


All's Fair in Love and Science

by shes_an_oddbird



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days AU, Misunderstandings, Perthshire, Romantic Comedy AU, attempt at comedy, college/academy au, fsromcom, i'm not funny unfortunately, just a bit of Angst, not really fake dating but fake dating in a way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-08
Updated: 2016-10-06
Packaged: 2018-08-13 21:34:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 56,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7987015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shes_an_oddbird/pseuds/shes_an_oddbird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Jemma Simmons, soon to be Dr. Jemma Simmons, is forced to take an entry level psychology course to complete her graduation requirements, she is given a unique assignment to make the class more challenging. Inspired by her roommate who falls in love in a heartbeat, she chooses to focus her research on the Triangle Theory of Love by dating fellow student Leo Fitz and, unknown to him, putting him through tests to find out how their relationship is progressing. Unfortunately for Jemma her data may be corrupt as Fitz is running tests of him own. It's a good thing they agree, all's fair in love and science.</p>
<p>A How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days AU (with a twist)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I worked the entire summer on this challenge and I'm surprisingly proud of the finally outcome. It got quite long and doesn't exactly follow the movie to a tee but I think puts a more Fitzsimmons-y twist on it. I'll be posting over a few days in the moments that I have internet access.

“Alright Miss Simmons everything appears to be on track for you to graduate this year with both your Chemistry and Biology doctorates, there is just the final matter of your Introduction to Psychology credit to complete your general education requirements.”

Jemma could barely contain her offended scoff at Dr. Weaver’s comment. She had had her organizer halfway back into her bag but stopped to place it back on the desk. “I think you must be mistaken Dr. Weaver, I’ve already completed that requirement.”

Dr. Weaver faltered, “I’m afraid that there is no record of it in our system.”

Jemma smiled back at the woman, she turned the organizer around and flipped it open to the back where a five year schedule had been written out during her first faculty advisor meeting during freshman year. It broke down every credit she would need to take, and when, to graduate with her PhDs in Chemistry and Biology in exactly five years. And she had stuck to it, from the class, to the time, to the professor.

When Dr. Vaughn had announced his retirement prior to her scheduled attendance of his class Jemma had spent three weeks following him around attempting to convince him to stay on just until she had the opportunity to take his class. After cornering him one to many time outside the men’s loo she had managed to get him to agree. Much to the dismay of her fellow students.

So the very implication that her schedule had somehow failed her was unthinkable.

“See, Introduction to Psychology, second year, second semester, 8am-8:50am, Monday, Wednesday, Friday with Professor Garrett.” She definitely sounded cocky and vowed to turn it down a bit. This wasn’t Dr. Weaver’s fault, certainly it was just a computer glitch.

Dr. Weaver reviewed the chart before referring back to her computer.  Jemma waited patiently certain it wouldn’t take long to correct the error.

“Oh yes, here we are.” Jemma grinned. The schedule never failed her.

“Happens all the time I’m sure, I guess that’ll be it then?” Jemma had the organizer all the way back into her bag this time and was on her feet preparing to leave before Dr. Weaver could even lift her hand in protest.

“I’m afraid Jemma that all of Professor Garrett’s class credits were voided last year after we discovered his falsified teaching credentials, all students not graduating were required to take the class again.”

Jemma froze. She had heard wrong, that was all. “Come again?”

“You’ll need to take the class again Jemma.”

Jemma slowly lowered herself back into the chair before her legs decided to drop her. “I-I-Why wasn’t I notified sooner,” her voice cracked in panic, “at least last semester I could have reworked my schedule.” For the third time she took out her organizer, flipping urgently past to do lists, grocery lists, test schedules until she was staring down at her timeline. Her schedule was entirely full, three labs, two lectures and she had to finish her thesis for her Biology doctorate.

“Emails were sent out, it was in the school paper, it was in the local paper, I think letters were sent home over break.”

How could she not have known? Sure she didn’t always have time to pick up a paper but someone might have mentioned it. A classmate, a professor, her parents, since they supposedly got the notice instead of her. She hadn’t gone home for break. Had taken summer courses to stay on schedule. Although she may as well have flushed that down the toilet for all the good it was doing her now.

“You still have time to fit it in, you’ve got a reasonably light work load, at least compared to past semesters and if you are really concerned you do have a few classes here that you’re not required to take.” Jemma’s stared back horrified at the suggestion. And what class would she drop? Her Abnormalities of Human Biology, but she already read through half her text book. Or maybe her Recreational Water Sports Class? She already received her physical education credit from taking self-defense with May. But oh she had so been looking forward to snorkeling lessons.

“Oh and look Dr. Garner even has an opening left in his class, an excellent professor, you’ll like him very much I think.” Weaver looked across the desk expectantly.

She would have liked to object, ask for an alternate option then being forced to sit through an entry level class during her very last semester of school. She could take a test, prove she knew the information. But a nagging thought tugged at the back of her mind. She had been taught by an inadequate professor, what if she had been taught wrong? The last thing she wanted was inaccurate information taking up space in her head. What if she actually used it?  That would be utterly mortifying.

“Sign me up.”

* * *

 “You know you can sell these back at the end of the year right?” Daisy said flipping through one of many textbooks Jemma had discarded in her search for her old Psychology book. She had confirmed with Dr. Garner via email that it was still the most up to date addition. “I know it’s only for a portion of the ridiculous amount we pay for them but it’s enough to buy a new outfit or a nice dinner or both based on the number of books you have. Do you really buy every book from the required reading list?”

Yes. And the recommended list when she could afford it. She looked over at her roommate trying to come up with a proper justification for keeping her books aside from her usual argument that she may need them again until she remembered that in this case she did actually need one again.

“Well at least I don’t have to go out and buy it a second time.” She huffed as she tossed aside a heavy organic chemistry tome.  It missed her bed and landed on the floor with a solid thunk.

 “Looks like your over preparedness has finally paid off.” Daisy joked. “Do you think your calculous teacher was a flake too?” She asked as she flipped through a particularly well used book math book. “I think I may be a little shy on my half of the rent this month.”

Jemma rolled her eyes. “You won’t get any money from that, the campus bookstore must have a million copies.” That and she had filled the margins with notes and highlighted important sections.

“Screw the bookstore, you’ve written in all the answers, I could sell this to some fraternity and cover your half of the rent too.” Jemma pulled the book out of Daisy’s hands and dropped it back in the trunk. She had been unsuccessful in her search for the required psychology reading and was growing more frustrated by the second.

All the others were there and it didn’t get up and walk away on its own. “I don’t understand, what could I have done with it?”

From the corner of her eye Jemma noticed Daisy shift suspiciously. “You wouldn’t happen to know where it is, would you?”

Guiltily she replied, “you may have lent it to me when I took the class after you.”

“Oh yes! I remember now, well where is it?” Jemma asked. Daisy looked down at her feet. “You’ve sold it back haven’t you?”

“I forgot I had borrowed it from you, but I used the money to buy that blue sweater you like so much, the one you steal out of my dresser all the time.” Daisy looked at her with pleading, don’t be mad eyes.

“We’re getting vegetable pizza for dinner.”

“You are no fun.” Daisy replied, “but that’s fair.”

“Come on, it’s a bit of walk to the bookstore.”

“I have to go?!” Jemma glared at her friend as she snapped the lid closed on her trunk. “Alright I’ll go, you are quite cruel Jemma Simmons.”

Jemma sighed, she had promised not to take her bad mood out on anyone. “I’m sorry, I’m just so upset over this whole situation, I mean how embarrassing to be ready to graduate and still have to take an entry level class.” 

* * *

 

Hunter slammed his hand down on Fitz’s drafting table making him jump and sending a squiggly line scrawling across his schematics. Fitz scowled at his overenthusiastic roommate and shoved his arm out of the way. As he bent over his drawings prepared to fix the mess with no farther acknowledgment of the man when he spotted a report in the middle of the desk, a bright red 89 circled next to the name Lance Hunter. He looked back at the man next to him who was practically giddy with anticipation of his reaction.

“How do I know you actually wrote this, you could’ve paid someone?”

Hunter scoffed. “With what money? Read it, I guarantee you’ll have no doubt that it’s mine.”

“It’s his, trust me.” Fitz heard Mack, his other roommate, call from the kitchen.

“See, now pay up, you owe me one flight to London.” Fitz groaned. He knew better than to bet against Hunter and yet he always got sucked in. Every. Single. Damn. Time. Betting against Hunter getting a passing grade on anything, especially his down to the last minute psychology paper, should have been a sure thing. What he should have accounted for was how much Hunter wanted to get home for spring break.

“Fine, whatever.” Fitz pulled his phone from his back pocket, bringing up the bookmarked airline page. Tickets were high for the week he needed, being spring break of course the airlines would use that to their advantage and increase travel rates. He bumped the quantity from one to two in his cart and could practically hear the money draining from his meager savings account as he clicked purchase. He’d have to pick up more hours at the tech support center on campus to make up for this one. A ping rang on Hunter’s phone and once he’s confirmed that the ticket was there he slapped Fitz on the back.

“Thanks man, I almost feel bad accepting this, you were the inspiration for my paper after all.”

Fitz tried to focus on his work, he really did, but he could not ignore Hunter’s comment when it was clear his friend so earnestly wants him to ask to elaborate. Not wanting to give him the satisfaction Fitz picked up the paper that still sat on the edge of his desk. The title across the top read:

_How to Fix a Fitz_

Something that could most closely be described as horror shot through him. His eyes franticly jumped across the first page, he was too shocked to read it outright, and he picks out the most ridiculous of excerpts.

_A guide for shy guys who think they can’t get a girl but are actually a catch and just need a healthy dose of confidence and good kick in the arse to get them going in the right direction._

_You don’t have to change your entire personality, women appreciate someone who is honest about who they are. If you’re a complete grump like my mate then be a grump, all the more she’ll like you when you’re not a grump just for her._

_Don’t censor your conversation. Anyone can come off smooth as long as you deliver the line right. No hesitation. Sure you’ll probably mess up a few dozen times but when you nail it, she’ll love it_

“This is a joke.” Fitz stuttered out as heat rose up the back of his neck. “Please tell me you did not actually turn this in for a grade.” He anxiously flipped through the pages becoming more mortified with every sentence. He could hear Hunter laughing, even over the rushing in his ears.

“No joke Mate, the professor was so impressed he kept a copy as an example for future classes and he wants me to present it on Student Achievement Day, can you believe it, I didn’t even know there was such a thing.”

Fitz was going to kill him. The T-square from his drafting table would make a good weapon but before he could work out the angle to properly stab him, Hunter’s talking again. “Relax, Professor Garner suggested I drop your name from it and I don’t mention you specifically again throughout the whole thing.”

“How, how did this?! Get you an 89.”

“It’s a very insightful theory according to Garner, said he liked my take on it after reading so many essays on why girls don’t go for “nice guys” and girls who believe in that opposites attract nonsense or worse the bad boy routine.” Hunter explained. He had obviously grown bored with the conversation at that point, having gotten the reaction out of Fitz that he had wanted and was moving to the kitchen to grab a beer from the fridge. Fitz followed him.

“So what are you calling it, if you’re not using my name then, Wooing girls with your social incompetence, stutter your way to her heart, bore her to death with science.”

“All excellent suggestions but no,” Fitz made his impatience evident as Hunter sipped his beer, drawing out his answer. “Engineering Love”

It takes Fitz a moment to completely register what Hunter’s said and then he’s lunging at him. Hunter dunked out of the way. “Okay seriously, relax you have no reason to be embarrassed.”

“Oh I don’t, you’re basically mocking the fact that I can’t even speak to a woman let alone get one-”

“My god you’ve got one hell of an inferiority complex, how many times have I told you you’re a catch, you just panic any time you make any sort of progress with a girl, that’s what the paper is about.” Fitz faltered. “You have no idea how many girls I got using things I picked up from you in combination with a little confidence.”

“I don’t believe this,” Fitz abandoned his attempts to bludgeon Hunter and dropped down on the couch next to Mack who had started up a video game to drown them out. When Fitz picked up the second controller the man final addressed them.

“He makes a lot of valid points if you read over it.” He doesn’t look away from the screen as he talks. “Probably do you some good.”

“That actually brings up a request I have.” Fitz paused the game looking suspiciously up at Hunter who was suddenly _not_ as done with the conversation as Fitz originally thought.

“What?”

“Garner says the only thing the paper needed was some evidence, proof that it worked outside of my own experience.”  

Fitz scoffed. “Yeah? And how are you going to do that?” Hunter only looked down at him until Fitz connected the dots. No. No, no, no. “No!”

“Come on man, you have too.”

“Why, what reason could you possibly have that would convenience me to go out and thoroughly embarrass myself?”

“I need the proof to present at that Achievement Day thing.”

Fitz threw his hands up in the air in disbelief. “What do you care about that for, you’d never even heard of it.”

“Honestly I don’t but Bobbi loves when I take an interest in school work, it’s like she got some sort of nerd-kink, barely got this damn thing turned in on time.”

“Bobbi knows about this too!”

“You think I did this well on my own?”

“Forget it Hunter.” Fitz said as he resumed the game.

“Fine, what if I make you a deal?” Hunter sat in front of him on the coffee table, blocking his view of the screen. “Do this for me and I’ll pay you back for the London flight.”

“What if it doesn’t work, what if your “theory” is proven wrong?”

“It won’t be!”

“Are you serious, the paper is nonsense and I’m considering having Dr. Garner checked for a head injury.” Mack snickered next to him.

“How about this then, I’ll bet you the method works? If it does you tell Dr. Garner so he has proof, I get to present, you’re name still has to be taken out of it and oh you’ll have a girlfriend at the end of it all, if it doesn’t work than all you suffer is little rejection but I’ll reimburse you for the flight and I’ll pay for yours as well.”

His flight as well?

“Kind of seems like Fitz has got the better half of the deal on both sides, committed girlfriend or money, what do you get?”

“Let me reiterate how into this Bobbi is, besides I’d like to leave this place with at least one decent accomplishment to put on a resume.”

Fitz stood up. “I’m going to bed.”

“Think about it.” Hunter called after him. Much to Fitz’s dismay, he does. 

* * *

 

Jemma had never been one of the oldest in her class. Ever. When she walked into the psychology room she spotted a few students who were surely in the twenty-three plus program but for the most part its eighteen-year-old freshman with sleepy eyes and stress already seeping out of their oily pores. She hurried down to the front, her seating area of choice, free from distractions, close enough to hear and easily spotted when she raised her hand to answer questions.

Now that she thought about it she understood why Daisy so relentlessly referred to her as Hermione.

She took the seat anyways.

Dr. Garner stood behind the podium, watching as the last minute stragglers filed in before calling the attention of the class down to him. He’s familiar but Jemma couldn’t pin point where she’d seen the professor before; somewhere on campus most likely. He made his introductions brief. If there was one positive to a large lecture class, it was that the teacher didn’t bother with “ice breakers.” She used to quite enjoy them but at twenty-three years old they were really starting to lose their appeal.

Their first lesson relieved her of her primary fear, Professor Garrett wasn’t a complete fraud, none of the information so far had been new to her. Nor did it contradict any information from her first go round. Psychology was likely going to turn out to be a very dull hour of her day, three days a week for the entire semester. Or she fully believed so until the end of class. When Dr. Garner dismissed them, early for their first day she noticed, he asked her to stay behind.

She dropped back into her seat. A thud echoed through the emptying room when her bag of textbooks hit the floor again. “Is there a problem sir?”

The man took a seat at the desk next to hers. “Perhaps you can tell me Miss Simmons, you looked thoroughly bored throughout my class today.”

Jemma’s eyes widened. Had she been so obvious? “I’m very sorry sir, I didn’t mean any disrespect.” He held up a hand cutting off her apologetic rant. His gentle smile reassured her that he wasn’t out to scold and she breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s fine Miss Simmons, Dr. Weaver told me that you were a repeat student.”

“Because of Professor Garrett,” Jemma said urgently, “not because I failed the first time.”

“Yes, Dr. Weaver was sure to emphasize that point as well.”

Jemma nodded, embarrassed by her second rushed assumption. Dr. Garner just laughed good naturedly. “Now that I’ve made a prick of myself, twice, perhaps you’d better tell me why I’m still here, before I do it again.”

“You’ve been perfectly pleasant Jemma, I asked you to stay so that I could offer you a more appealing direction of study for my class.” Jemma felt her awkwardness dissipate instantly. She sat straighter in her chair fingers gripping her psych book in anticipation. “I have no doubt that you’ll do well in my class but I don’t think I could bear to watch you staring at the board all semester with your eyes glazed over.” Jemma’s cheeks tinged pink. “Instead of, or in combination with if you prefer, your studies I am giving you the option to take one of our lessons and elaborate on it in a thorough research paper, you’ll be able to work on it during the class periods that you find particularly dull and instead of the general reading and homework assignments.”

Jemma considered his offer. It would certainly make the class more interesting if she was able to apply her efforts to information she hadn’t already retained.

“I thought perhaps you could even find a way to incorporate your interest in biochemistry and how it works with the brain to trigger thoughts and feelings.”

The smile that split across her face was all the confirmation Dr. Garner would need that she was on board with the idea. Mixing her love of biochemistry with her basic knowledge of psychology would definitely make it a more bearable class. “Why don’t you take a few days to refresh yourself with the topics on the syllabus and let me know what you decide. I’ll expect regular updates on your research, notes, drafts, the usual.”

Jemma jumped up, extending her hand to him. “I’m looking forward to it.”

She wasn’t lying. She really was very excited about the assignment Dr. Garner had given her. So much so she pulled out the itinerary from her syllabus and stuck it into the front page of her organizer. Even in front of her valedictorian speech. Peeking at it between classes had made her nearly late to both her labs and she walked smack into and old professor she never cared much for and was, to her dismay, sucked into a very unwanted conversation.

It was late when she returned to her and Daisy’s apartment, having spent most of the evening getting a jump start on her classes and finishing the research for her thesis. The place was quiet when she walked through the door. The lights out, the TV off, which startled her because Daisy never remembered to turn off the TV. The only logical reason being that Daisy had stayed out even later then herself.

Jemma would admit to a twinge of disappointment. There roommate deal stated that whoever got home first, cooked dinner. Jemma set her stuff down at the table and kicked her shoes off beneath it. The cool laminate beneath her feet felt nice after a day on her feet in the labs. She padded over to the fridge hoping they had something to make a dinner out of. She ended up tossing the leftover chicken on a couple of pieces of wheat bread, toasted to cover the fact that it was quickly growing stale. The head of lettuce in the crisper was not completely wilted and she was sure to stick the heathier looking pieces on Daisy’s sandwich so that she didn’t get the ‘you cheated’ look when she saw Daisy in the morning.

She wouldn’t usually eat in her room but she made an exception so she could change into her pajamas and save herself a minute before finally crashing for the night.  Just as she’s managed to get her door open with her arms laden down with her belongings she spotted a faint light shining from under Daisy’s door.

Her first thought was to scold Daisy for not sticking to their arrangement but instead she was just going to mention that there was a sandwich in the fridge for her. When she cracked open the door the silent apartment filled with sniffling. Jemma pushed the door the rest of the way open in a rush. A lump on Daisy’s bed was emitting the pitiful sound and the mess of hair sticking out from under the covers gave her roommate away.

Setting aside her plate and bag Jemma approached the bed carefully.

“Oh Daisy, what happened?”

“He’s an asshole just like the rest of them!” The angry exclamation came out muffled through her pillow but Jemma could still hear the tears tainting her voice. She took a seat on the edge of the bed and pulled the blanket away from Daisy’s face. She knew immediately the girl was genuinely as pissed off as she was upset and not just putting up a front. Did she even ask? Was it cheating? Lying? Poor girl had the worst taste in boyfriends. Which was strange considering she had the nicest guys for friends; Trip, Lincoln, Joey were all completely sweet.   

“It would be easy to be fooled, Ward is very charismatic, could make anyone like him, I think.” Jemma herself had liked the man to a point but he often left her unsettled.

“Oh don’t be modest, I know you didn’t like him, just say I told you so and be done with it.”

Jemma cringed. “What do you need Daisy, boyfriend bashing or sympathy, I’m warning you, comfort food is out.”

Daisy half smiled at the comment and nodded at the empty ice cream container on her night stand. Jemma hummed in acknowledgment and racked her brain for another option. If she was avoiding her anger and sadness that did leave open one option. Laughter.

Mockery specifically.

“Rom-com marathon?” What better way to feel better about your own relationships then to mock those of questionable beginnings and cliché misunderstandings. Daisy nodded eagerly.

They were three Matthew McCohnegy chase scenes in to their marathon when Daisy’s head tipped on to Jemma’s shoulder, jostling the girl out of her daze. Her eyes had been threating to close since chase scene two. Her chance to escape was near. Jemma would gladly stay with her friend all night if necessary but she desperately needed sleep and could practically feel the warmth of her heavy comforter surrounding her.

“You’re right you know.”

“I’m always right,” Jemma mumbled, “what was I right about?”

“He’s likable, he makes you care for him, makes him believe that he cares for you and now even though I know he’s awful it still hurts to lose him.”

To Jemma’s surprise she had a response for her friend. Her own coping mechanism for break ups, the few that actually caused some turmoil and not utter relief could easily be applied to Daisy’s feelings.

“You might feel the way you do because of chemicals in your body.” Jemma said. Breaking down her emotions to a science after her first major breakup had helped her ease the pain. She had barricaded herself in the library and read about love and its many causes. “When you’re in love, infatuation, lust, whatever it may be your brain releases chemicals, monoamine, dopamine, serotonin, when we lose that you feel lethargic, sad, pain in a way.”

“Oh god, have you gotten that desperate, you’re going to bore me to sleep with science.”

“I’m going to excuse that comment because of your distressed state.” Jemma said, “but I’m serious, this is what’s going on inside you, eventually it will lesson, barring any irregularities of course.”

“You make it sound like an addiction.”

“A very small scale one, perhaps.”

“You know you could be making this shit up and I’d just believe you.” Daisy finally gave her a smile and Jemma knew she was finally free to go. “Go get some sleep, I’m sorry I’ve kept you up so late.”

“Anytime Daisy, you know that.”

Jemma scooped up her things from the hallway and trudged heavily into her room.  She was ready to crash but she’d never been able to sleep when an idea was picking at her brain so she grabbed up her bag with the last of her energy and extracted her trusty organizer. The list that she paper clipped to the front and read over a dozen times since morning stretched out in front of her. Snagging a highlighter from her desk she marked over a lesson plan toward the bottom before recapping the pen and falling into bed. Asleep before she has time to reconsider.

_Triangle Theory._


	2. Chapter 2

It only feels like a few minutes later when Jemma is woken to the smell of blueberry scones and Daisy puttering around her room.

“What did you do Daisy?” Jemma asked, prying an eye open to seek out the smell.

“Just a thank you for last night.” Jemma sat up, eyes blurry and half lidded. “That coffee shop was busy even at 7am, I don’t know how you can bear to go there every morning.”

Jemma moved her belongings off her nightstand so that Daisy could set their breakfast down. The girl plopped down into the desk chair and spun it around so she could prop her feet up on the end of the bed.

Still disoriented from sleep Jemma nearly took a bite out of her calculator before realizing she still has her organizer in her lap and she’s wiped her fingers on her shopping list.

“How are you so perky, we were up most of the night.”

“I’m feeling renewed, losing Ward is like having an incredible weight lifted off of me.”

“Well I’m glad.” Jemma said before stuffing her mouth full of scone. Her stomach growled greedily and she vowed not to miss two meals in a row ever again. “I’ve benefited myself from your situation, my psychology professor Dr. Garner-”

“May’s husband?”

That was where she’d seen the man before.

“Yes him, he offered me an alternative to following the set lesson plans for his class.”

“Uh huh.” Daisy muttered as she sipped at her coffee. Jemma hated to think how many she had already had that morning.

“Well he asked me to write a paper, diving deeper into one of the topics that we’re scheduled to study over the course of the semester and I’ve chosen Triangle Theory of Love.”

Daisy swallowed a mouth full of scone. “I’ve heard of that, I think.”

“There is a very brief section on it in the psychology book that you stole from me.” Jemma reminded her.

Daisy responded exasperated, “Oh my god, I will give you the sweater if you please don’t bring that up again.”

“I’m just kidding Daisy.”

She took another sip of coffee. “So what is it.”

“The theory states that in the context of interpersonal relationships there are three components of love intimacy, passion and commitment,” Jemma said as she picked up a pen and began to draw on the first sheet of clean paper in her organizer. She placed one word at each corner and explained. “Intimacy is a closeness between two people, this doesn’t have to have the romantic connotations associated with love just an attachment to a person, like a typical friendship.” She checked to make sure Daisy was following before continuing.

“Passion, that encompasses desire and feelings of sexual attraction. Alone it doesn’t amount to much of a relationship just-“

“Sex.” Daisy finished.

“That would be the short answer, yes.”

“When combined with intimacy, you have the start of a decent relationship or romantic love, this is likely where you were with Ward with maybe a little less liking.”

“Well I’ll agree he was definitely lacking on the commitment end of things.”

“Commitment is the decision to stay with a person and then long term to make plans for the future.”

Daisy nodded in understanding. Jemma thought she saw a flash of hurt in her friend’s eyes. It seemed Daisy may have been more balanced between the three points than Ward had been and her meager dislike for the man raced over the line into hatred.

“Commitment alone is referred to as empty love, commitment and passion is fatuous love, think of the whirlwind romances of celebrities or the short courtships from the romantic comedies.”

“What about commitment and intimacy?”

“Strong Friendship, they refer to it as companionate love, sometimes seen in marriages that have lost their passion, all three together is consummate love, a perfect love, it doesn’t have to exist forever, none of the stages do.” Jemma finished her explanation, her triangle now filled in with notes in her tiny print.

“It sounds like you have a pretty good grasp on the theory, how are you going to spend a whole semester studying it?”

“The theory is quite simply and has a few flaws, flaws that I want to explore.” Jemma climbed out of bed and started gathering her things to get ready for the morning. “One point it doesn’t focus on is time within each stage or if there even is a certain amount of time dictated for each and another is scenarios where one person is at a different point then another.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I am going to test the stages over the course of one semester.”

“By interrogating couples, please don’t enlist me for asking for volunteers that seems like it would be all levels of weird.”

“I may choose to interview a few couples but I was actually thinking that I would be the test subject.”

Daisy looked up at her in surprise. “You’re serious?”

“Yes of course, I’ll be able to tell best when I’m entering or exiting each stage then trying to decipher when others are, not to mention the biological reactions will be easy to test for on myself.”

“So you’re going to make yourself fall in love with someone.” Daisy asked incredulously. “Sleep deprivation leads to Dr. Frankenstein like mad science would also be an interesting topic.”

“It’s not that unusual of an idea.” Jemma responded defensively. “It will give me a firsthand account, I’ll be able to do a in depth analysis.”

“But making yourself fall in love with someone Jemma.”

“I’m not going to make myself fall in someone.” Jemma said exasperated. “I’m going to pick someone and see where it goes, I’ll certainly try to pick someone with potential, I’d rather not spend my entire semester with another Milton, if I see it progressing nicely I’ll apply variables to test his reactions and find out where he is on the spectrum.” Jemma wondered if Daisy could tell the idea was coming together as she asked questions. Her inkling from last night was expanding out and building on itself as she talked. By the time Daisy nodded in understanding Jemma was jittery with excitement over her new project.

“So when do we pick someone?”

“We?”

“I was your inspiration, I expect to be a part of this.”

“I’ll need Dr. Garner’s approval on the assignment.”

“So maybe we hit the Boiler Room tonight and pick someone.”

Eager herself, Jemma agreed immediately. 

* * *

 

“Did you think about it?”

“Get out.” Fitz said, dragging his pillow over his head to block out Hunter’s voice.

“Come on Mate, if you’re so sure the paper is bogus than its betting on a sure thing.” Fitz groaned.

“Even if your wrong and I’m right, all your getting out of it is a little humility and a girlfriend.”

Fitz finally hoisted himself up. He glowered at the intrusion to his room. Pulling himself out of bed to get ready he still didn’t give Hunter an answer.

“Oh just do it.” Hunter glowered.

“Why is this so important to you?”

“Would you believe me if I said it’s because I don’t want my best mate to spend his entire life alone.”

Fitz sighed heavily, he slammed closed the top drawer of his dresser having found the old shirt and jeans he was going to wear. “Fine, you’re on.”

“Fitz you beauty, you’re not going to regret this, no matter the outcome.” He bounded over to Fitz, slapping him hard on the back. Once he was out the door Fitz pulled off his t-shirt and reached for the old button down. Hunter poked his head back in.

“Maybe pick something else to wear, the method works but let’s not put any additional obstacles in the way, yeah?”

He ended up taking Hunter’s advice, selecting instead an outfit that Bobbi had actually helped him put together for a date he’d gone on a couple months before. The date had gone nowhere but he got the distinct impression it wasn’t because of his clothes. The blue button down was actually very comfortable. His pants were a bit snug but Bobbi had assured him that they felt that way because they fit properly.

He dragged his feet, on his way to the bar. Drawing out the inevitable embarrassment as he attempted to get some girl. Hunter would no doubt make sure she was way out of his league in an attempt to prove his point.

When he did arrive at the bar, The Boiler Room, it was packed with students already celebrating the completion of the first two days of class. He usually tried to avoid the place on Friday nights when the crowds were primarily undergrads. He easily spotted Mack, the man towering over most of room’s occupants. After he’s pushed his way over to him he realized Hunter wasn’t with him. Instead Mack was chatting with a pretty dark haired girl who was nodding with a wide smile on her face but Fitz got the impression she wasn’t listening.

“Fitz!”

Hunter’s tucked into a booth that has an excellent vantage point on the patrons. As much as he was dreading it, Fitz started to take notice of the woman in the bar as he made his way over. Some were chatting with friends or waiting for turns at the pool table, one girl was schooling a group of frat boys at darts.

“You’ve got an excellent pool of applicants to choose from.”

Fitz scanned the room a second time thinking he missed someone the first go round. Hunter eagerly pointed out his top picks, all tall, blonde and stunningly beautiful.

“Are you picking someone for you or me?”

“You of course, Bob and I are on speaking terms right now.” Hunter said. “But I see what you’re getting at, you prefer brunettes.” He proceeded to pick out those who could easily be described as brunette Bobbis from the crowd.

“I know you’ve got a lot of faith in this “method” but maybe you could try to be realistic.” Fitz chided.

“Fine,” Hunter conceded with a wave, “you pick someone, you don’t date enough for me to have anything to go off of anyways.”

Fitz groaned. So far no one had even given him a glimmer of interest. There’s a beautiful red-headed girl at the back of the bar who has a bit of appeal and he caught a glimpse of a girl he worked with at the tech support center who he had harbored a brief crush on but he doesn’t stand a chance with the first one and he’s long since gotten over the thing for his coworker.

“Wait, wait, I think we have a winner.”

“Huh?”

“By the door, just walked in.” That didn’t narrow it down. “Really pretty, on the short side, blue sweater.”

Fitz just barely caught sight of her and she weaved through the crowd. She’s polite about it. He can’t hear her from across the room but she’s clearly said excuse me to everyone she’s passed. She’s searched the bar with her eyes and Fitz immediately wondered if she was looking for a friend or a boyfriend. That would be just his luck, the first girl who’s actually interested him being completely unavailable.

She walked under a brighter light and Fitz recognized her. Jemma Simmons. He’s only seen pictures of her. Mostly in the school paper, articles praising her genius. She was the only other person at the school who was his age and getting a PhD. Two if he heard correctly.

She was probably the worse choice in the entire bar. The number of times he had considered tracking her down just to meet her, he’d lost count. But he thought maybe they’d get along well. Though she was even more impressive then himself, two PhDs in the time it took him to accomplish just the one. Not to mention she really was very pretty. Beautiful even.

“I don’t know,” Fitz said as he watched her disappear into a blind spot. “Maybe see if anyone else comes, it’s still early.”

Hunter sighed mumbling ‘bloody idiot’ and ‘perfect.’

* * *

 

“I’m guessing based on your ensemble there that the experiment is a go.” Daisy gave her an approving once over, eyes lingering on the blue top that Jemma had snagged from her dresser.

“You’re the one who won’t shut up about the sweater.” Jemma said as she took a seat at the isolated little table Daisy had chosen for them. “And Dr. Garner said the idea was interesting, he actually assigns his students a “Love” focused essay every semester anyways.”

“You are such a teacher’s pet, exempt from classwork and still finding a way to do it.” Daisy took a sip of her drink before jumping in. “So what’s the plan, are you picking at random or maybe an old flame.”

Jemma considered it for a moment. “Someone new I think, if anyone I’d dated in the past had potential it would have lasted longer than one date and there weren’t many that did.”

“Good call, so we need someone smart, you don’t really have a physical type right, I’ve never seen you partial to blondes or brunettes, maybe tall, but given the fact that your five foot nothing everyone is tall next to you.” She really wasn’t particular. Reasonable fit would be nice. Nice features. She wasn’t overly picky.

Daisy bounced in the chair across from her, catching her attention. “You’re quite excited about this aren’t you?”

“You’ve never willingly let me set you up on a date, I’m savoring this.” Daisy explained. “Go get a drink from the bar, scout out the room, come back with some options and I’ll help you narrow it down.” Jemma shot Daisy an amused look before doing as she suggested and walked up to the bar. She hadn’t seen anyone on her initial sweep. While she waited for her drink she did see a few potentials.

A tall fellow at the end of the bar.

A muscly one playing pool. 

The pasty one who was chatting with a friend. He was handsome and she thought she caught him glance her way a couple times.

Jemma snatched up her drink when the bartender set it in front of her and hurried back to Daisy with her potentials. Daisy, with Jemma’s list in mind went to the bar for a second drink and to scope them out. She’s gone longer then Jemma would have thought necessary. Maybe she should have put more thought into her choices? But all she had to go on appearance at first. She wouldn’t know anything about them until she spoke to them anyways.

Five minutes later Daisy finally returned. “You’re a weirdo, I hope you know that.”

“What?”

“Tall is out. He must be nearly seven feet tall Jemma how exactly do you expect to kiss him.”

Jemma gave a sheepish shrug, “he was sitting when I spotted him.” Regardless, Daisy had a point. It would have been a terrible pain on her neck.

“I wasn’t sure which muscly one you meant, but none of them seemed like a good fit.” Daisy explained. “And I couldn’t find Pasty.”

Jemma frowned. He had seemed like a good one. “So I guess I go again.”

“Yeah, keep an eye out for the one in the brown jacket and the one with the man bun.” Jemma scrunched up her nose. “I’m kidding, there is a handsome one with a navy scarf though and another with tattoo of a lizard on his arm.”

Jemma approached the bar again wishing Daisy was beside her this time. She sought out her roommate’s suggestions but was not impressed. Her eyes skipped over faces and physiques and wandered back to where she’d seen the attractive guy talking with his friend. He wasn’t there and disappointment tickled her stomach. It was silly really. She didn’t even know him.

That logic didn’t stop the smile spreading across her face when the guy suddenly returned, from the direction of the bathrooms of course. She turned to Daisy, waving to get her attention. Not easy considering she was staring down at her phone. When she finally joined her, Jemma pointed to the boy.

“Oh Fitz!” Daisy exclaimed. Jemma pushed her back over to their secluded little table. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of him he’s perfect.”

“Fitz? Wait Leopold Fitz?” Daisy nodded eagerly. That’s who that was. She’d heard of him in passing. The only other student her age and planning to graduate with a doctorate by the end of the year. Engineering maybe? “How do you know him?”

“He works at the Tech Support Center with me, he’s crazy smart and can fix anything.”

“What else?”

“He’s kind of quiet, I’ve only talked to him a few times but he seems nice, I’m pretty sure he’s single.” Jemma smiled. She had always wanted to meet him. This would be an excellent opportunity. “And he’s a science nerd like you.”

Jemma rolled her eyes.

“So what now?” Daisy asked.

Jemma froze. Usually she was so prepared but the entire experiment had come together so fast she skipped right over the most important part. Meeting the guy.

She should have put together a list of questions to ask, like a prescreening or an interview. A list that would help her quickly identify him as a potential romantic interest or a dud.

She briefly considered doing just that. She had all semester. She should have taken some time to properly plan it out. But she didn’t want to miss the opportunity to meet Leopold Fitz, not when he seemed like such a good candidate. “I’ll just have to feel him out, try to determine if he’s someone I can see experiencing all three points of the triangle with.”

Daisy nodded and Jemma stood feeling more anxious than she had anticipated.

“Jemma wait.” She turned back to Daisy who looked very serious. “I know you mean no ill intent but since there is some moral ambiguity here maybe don’t let this thing get physical until you know how you really feel about him.”

Jemma smiled back at her friend. “Definitely.” She intended to make sure Leopold Fitz was comfortable with the situation as best she could without revealing what she was doing.

“Good,” she stood too, “alright Lincoln asked if I wanted to meet him for a movie but I’m going to be checking in on you, be safe.”

“You too.” 

* * *

 

“Man you have not looked at anyone in here the way you looked at that Simmons girl, it’s got to be her.”

“Fine.” Fitz grimaced. “So what do I do?”

“This is the easy part man, just be yourself, you’re interesting, especially to someone like her, listen to her, talk about you, try to keep your crankiness to a minimum and don’t panic like you always do.”  

Fitz frowned, mostly at Hunter but partially to himself. Why did he always seem to get dragged into these sorts of things. “Okay.”

He stood and looked around the packed room. He’d seen her a couple of times at the bar before she’d disappear back around the corner so he figured he’d start there. He pushed through the crowd, past different girls who probably would have been less intimidating options but if he had to do this it may as well be with some he’d be interested in getting to know.

Lost in his thoughts and frankly not believing that Jemma Simmons would suddenly appear at his side of her own free will Fitz was surprised to nearly walk into her. He’s in such shock to see her there, not excusing herself to go around him but quite clearly looking up at him as he gaped at her like a fish. She waited patiently, his open mouth an indication that he wanted to say something to her.

“Hi, uh, um,” An A, how the hell had this gotten Hunter an A. “Drink, that is, would you like a drink, um, could I buy you a drink?”

She looked back at him uncertainly for a moment before her face split into a sunny smile and she nodded in agreement. The crowd around them seemed to tighten. Fitz placed a hand on her back and encouraged her to walk towards the far end of the bar. He ordered himself a beer then turned to Jemma who just said ‘same’ as she climbed onto the stool in front of her.

“It’s Leopold right? Leopold Fitz?” She asked and he tried not to visible cringe at the use of his first name.

“Just Fitz is fine, you know who I am?” He responded, his surprise that she knew his name at all catching up to him.

She nodded. “I know for sure now.”

“And you’re Jemma Simmons.”

She nodded again her smile growing. “Jemma or Simmons is fine, I’m not so picky.”

Fitz’s cheeks reddened. “Course not, nothing wrong with your name, it’s quite nice actually.”

“Well thank you, I’ll be sure to tell my parents they picked a good one.”

Fitz frowned. He’s never taken well to teasing, even when it was good natured, but she seemed so genuine he doesn’t feel the usual urge just walk away. Instead he sat down on the stool next to hers and picked up the beer that had been placed in front of him.

He had two options from that point. Return her banter with a witty remark or try to smoothly transition into conversation that relied less on snappy retorts.

Confidence. Hunter had said.

“Maybe you could phone my mum while you’re at it, tell her the opposite of that.” Fitz grimaced. “That she picked a bad one that is.” He tried to clarify. That was not snappy, witty or even mildly appropriate. Change the subject, change the subject, change the subject. “So what brings you here tonight?”

He doubted Hunter could hear him but he was sure the man was just overcome with the urge to roll his eyes.

She apparently needed to consider her answer before replying. There was a long pause where she looked thoughtfully off into the distance and then back at him. “I was hoping to meet someone interesting.”

“Ah, well I should let you get back to it then.” He said and lifted himself off the stool. Self-deprecating humor, that he could do.

She laughed and placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Her other hand played with the neck of the bottle on the counter. “Actually I’m glad I ran into you, I’ve heard about you from professors and advisors and it’s nice to finally meet you.”

To say he was surprised was an understatement. He plopped back down on the stool and willed himself to look her directly in the eyes. Beautiful eyes really, all wide and warm golden brown. “It’s nice to finally meet you too.”

Ask her about herself.

“Biology and Chemistry, yeah?”

Her eyes actually lit up, her smile splitting her face in two. Fitz had never seen anything but utter dread when asking a peer about their major and Jemma looked like she was going to actually sing her praises of the fields she had dedicated herself to.

“Yes!” She rattled off the specific names of the fields with ease. Most people would  have flinched just trying to pronounce them. It was incredible. Fitz had struggled himself to select a specific field of engineering, dabbling in all of them in the meantime, and it never occurred to him to just go for two PhDs. The work load must be unbearable and she had time to be out socializing.

“How about you?”

“Engineering.”

“How wonderful, I’m not particularly apt in that area but I have worked with others on Biotech projects, it’s fascinating.”

Fitz saw the opening for a compliment and the voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Hunter shouted at him to take it.

“I bet you’d be great at it if you wanted to be.” His words have the desired effect, turning her cheeks slightly pink. “Seriously anyone who can accomplish two PhDs before they turn what, twenty-one, twenty-two, can probably do anything.” He may have been laying it on a little thick then but she still seemed pleased.

“Twenty-two, could have been sooner, I took a lot of time off before starting here, traveling with my aunt, I wanted to start at seventeen like everyone else.” Jemma explained. “I was able to see the most incredible places and still learn so much.”

“When did you graduate from secondary school?” He was curious, maybe fourteen or fifteen.

“I was eleven when I finished sixth form.”

Fitz looked at her shocked and it took him a minute to explain. “I-I was too.”

“Really? I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who could say that.”

“I wish I could have travelled, I took time off too, obviously, but my mum was ill so it was really just to be there for her.” Fitz fidgeted in his seat as the well-rehearsed explanation rolled off his tongue. It was the truth, or a partial truth. 

“Oh I’m so sorry to her that, is she alright?”

“Yes, a full recovery.”

“Well that’s wonderful to hear and very kind of you to do for her.”

Jemma looked sadly at the counter. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to put a damper on the conversation.” It could have been a lot more depressing honestly.

“Oh no that’s okay, just reminded me that my grandmother’s not doing so well, we can talk about something else, what is your thesis on?”

Wanting to see the sparkle in her eyes again Fitz started to explain his latest project in lamest terms. As she interrupted with comprehensive questions he started to go into more detail, amazed as she kept up word for word. Not great with technology, she said. _Bullshit._ He thought.

She was incredible. After he finished with his thesis he returned the question and Jemma launched into an elaborate story of her inspiration for her thesis. He listened captivated and taking turns between silently scolding himself and congratulating himself.

Congratulating because he was certainly going to win the bet with Hunter. Jemma Simmons was simply too amazing to ever fall in love with him. It would be a miracle if he could keep her interested just for the night. No matter how happy she seemed to be sitting there chatting with him.

He was scolding himself because he could easily picture himself falling hopelessly in love with her.

* * *

“-And finally I couldn’t take it anymore so I just put on the suit myself and walked right in. I ended up in quarantine for the next thirty-six hours but I just had to do it you know, _for science_.” Jemma finished. She could feel her whole body getting looser. She talked a lot when she was tipsy, uncontrollably sometimes, it was terribly embarrassing as was the story it’s self but he was a good audience. Like right now he was looking at her stunned, an appropriate facial expression based on her actions. And then he was laughing hysterically.

“I cannot believe you just said that.” He struggled to contain his laughter but it continued to bubble up and burst out of him. It was contagious.

“Said what?” She asked through her own giggles.

He took a deep breath to calm himself. “ _’For science,’_ god, the number of things I’ve done ‘for science’ or ‘in the name of science.’”

“Really?” Jemma asked. Her laughter subsided but her grin stayed in place. She knew that what she was planning to do might not be perceived as morally correct but if Fitz was as invested in scientific pursuit the same as she was than she could continue on with an eased conscience.

“Yeah.”

Jemma looked down at her beer. She has just a sip left and if the clock on the wall is any indication, they likely would not serve her another.

“A toast?” She says holding it out to him. “For science.”

He peeked into his own bottle to see if anything remained before lifting it to clank with hers. “For science.”

She threw back the last bit before setting the bottle down with an empty echo on the counter. “I think they’re going to need us to leave.”

“Can I walk you home?”

“Oh, well I think I could make it.” She said hopping off her stool and promptly losing her balance. He caught her as she tipped towards him. “But I wouldn’t say no to drawing this out a bit more.”

“G-good, me t-too.” Jemma smiled. Oh boy did she like making him blush.

It’s quite a peaceful walk back to her apartment building. Jemma showed off her astrology knowledge by pointing out her favorite of the few constellations she could make out. Fortunately, between the street lamps and nearby airport, she’s able to fill in any missing stars.

By the time Jemma saw her apartment building come into view she had decided that Fitz would be absolutely perfect subject for her paper. She would easily be able to spend time with him. They had a great bit in common and he seemed equally interested in her.

She also found him to be very attractive. She had promised Daisy no-hanky panky- early on but she did want to test to be sure there was the potential for a physical relationship as well. Surely a goodnight kiss would be acceptable.

Though she would admit she couldn’t be sure where he stood on the matter. He hadn’t even held her hand.

He did walk her right up to the door though. They stood on the top step of the concrete stoop. Jemma looked up at him in anticipation. He looked very much like he wanted to take a step forward but his feet were shifting backwards instead.

“Good night Jemma.”

“Good night Fitz.”

He stepped down one step. “Fitz.”

The boy had barely turned completely around when she swooped in and planted her lips directly over his. They both lose their balance on the steep steps. Fitz managed to steady her with one hand on her hip and the other against the rail, never separating their mouths that were happily exploring the other’s. Her hands had landed securely on her shoulders but as the kiss deepened one hand inched over until it was cupping the back of his head, her thumb gently stroking through his short hair.

Once he’s found his footing he stepped up on to her step, making her shift back, her shoulder bumping into the door. His arms looped around her and he pulled her flush against him. Jemma fought back a groan, instead humming against his lips and pulling back before she could lose all her will power.

He looked down at her with his blue eyes darkened by their kiss. Retracting her hands before she could say screw it and invite him up, she pressed a chaste kiss to his lips.

“Have a good night.” Her hand searched behind her for the door knob.

“I don’t think it could get much better.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad everyone is enjoying this so far. I feel like I need to mention although its probably pretty obvious-the science is mostly nonsense. I googled some but I haven't taken psychology in years and much like Daisy would do I sold that book back asap.

“I told you not to sleep with him!” Jemma groaned at the banging caused by the door slamming into the side of her desk as Daisy bounded into the room. She buried herself deeper into the blankets and pillows that already encased her like a cocoon.

“I didn’t sleep with him.” Jemma mumbled as she peeked out to look at her clock. Even just the dull red lights burned her eyes making her squint to read the numbers. After eleven was the best she could make out.

Daisy scoffed. “Then what exactly were you doing till after two in the morning?”

“We were just talking, actually I’m all talked out, so perhaps we can discuss this later.”

“I come baring water and aspirin.” She said in a sing song voice that didn’t help her headache.

“I already have it.” Jemma gestured from under her blanket.

“And tea.” Daisy added.

Well if she didn’t have to make herself. “Alright.” Jemma pushed herself up, “I’m awake.”

“Excellent, so there was no sex?” Daisy asked, jumping right in.

“I’m not that awake.”

“Seriously, all you two did was talk for nearly six hours.” Daisy moved to the foot of her bed and even the small motion made Jemma’s head feel like it was dramatically tilted. She managed a small nod. “Are you sure you didn’t just get drunk and stare at each other?”

“No, I remember nearly everything we talked about.” It was the most stimulating conversation she had had in ages and it certainly hadn’t felt like six hours. She could have gone on all night if they hadn’t had to leave. “He’s brilliant.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t think to hook the two of you up sooner.” Daisy scolded herself.

“Well I’m actually glad, otherwise I’d have to rethink this entire psychology paper, can you hand me my bag?” Daisy tossed her the purse that hung around the post of her bed and Jemma extracted a small recorder. Daisy arched an eyebrow at her.

“Subject A, myself, Jemma K. Simmons, has selected Leopold Fitz, from here on referred to as Subject B, for an experiment in testing the accuracy of Psychologist Robert Sternberg’s Triangle Theory of Love and providing my own data to help fill the holes left in his research.” Daisy stifled her laughter. “Subject B was selected on predetermined criteria, preferences of subject A: an advanced intellect, a dedication to science-

“a low body fat content and symmetrical facial features—“

Jemma glared at Daisy, “an immediate acknowledgment of physical attraction.”

“After spending approximately six hours together I was able to determine that Subject B would be a welcome companion for the foreseeable future and has the potential to develop into a more intimate relationship.”

Jemma released the record button, wondering silently to herself if she had missed anything. Daisy was still watching expectantly. She pressed the button once more. “Preliminary testing yields promising results that physical attraction was not unfounded but shared, upon being kissed Subject B responded first with shock followed by-eager reciprocation.” Daisy’s wide eyes squinted as she covered her mouth with her hands, burring her laugh in her palms. “All coital activities are on hold until a more comprehensive assessment of Subject A and Subject B’s emotional connection has taken place.”

“So clinical.” Daisy said casually as Jemma set aside the recorder. “Did you really have to initiate the good night kiss?” Jemma nodded her cheeks turning bright red. “That boy has no idea what he’s getting himself into.”

“So when are you going to see him again?”

“I don’t know we didn’t make any concrete plans, he’s got my number though.”

“You’re not worried that he’s not going to call?”

The thought actually hadn’t crossed her mind. They had gotten on so well the fact that they would see each other again seemed inevitable. She glanced at her cell phone, it laid unblinking on her side table. No messages yet. “Well perhaps he’s still asleep, we were out quite late last night.”

“That’s fair, I just thought-well he seemed like the type to make immediate plans.” Jemma shifted uncomfortably. They had had, well at least she thought they had had an immediate connection but he hadn’t even said see you soon. Just good night.

When the crippling self-doubt churned in her stomach she quickly grabbed up a free notebook and started writing. “I’m sure he’ll call, if not I can call him this is the twenty first century after all and in the meantime I can come up with ideas.”

“Ideas?”

“I need to see if we have common interests, research shows intimacy is the best starting point on the triangle”

“You spent half the night talking about science.”

“Well yes but science is a broad subject, besides he’s engineering and I’m biochem, what if aside from talking about our fields we have nothing in common, what sort of activities would we do together?”

“Talking is not so bad, I couldn’t get Ward to talk to save my life.” Daisy reasoned. Jemma was already scribbling down a list as she listened.

_Museums-not just science_

_A nice dinner-A Romantic place?_

_Her favorite book store._

“Don’t forget a movie, you can tell a lot about a guy from the type of movies he likes.” Daisy suggested. Jemma quickly printed it at the bottom.

_Movies?_

“There you go you’ve got about a week worth of dates, now you just need him to call you up and ask you to one, maybe you should email him the list as a motivator. Jemma launched her pillow at Daisy. 

* * *

 

 “What the hell?!” Fitz shot up in bed as the pillow Hunter was wielding hit him repeatedly. His head spun and he quickly buried his head back in his pillow, groaning loudly at Hunter’s uproarious laughter.

“Didn’t I tell you it was full proof?”

Groan.

“I half expected to find her in here with you.”

His groan this time came out as more of a scoff.

“What time did you drag your sorry arse in last night? I left at one to go pick up Bob from the library and you were still out and about.”

Groan.

“Well I guess it wasn’t an all-nighter, you were back before I was.”

Finally, Fitz turned on his friend. “Will you shut up, I got home around two thirty the bar kicked us out at two and considering how drunk the two of us were it took a while to walk her back to her apartment and then for me to get here and as for your full proof method I highly doubt she fell in love with me in one night, the only reason I have to believe she might be interested in me as someone besides a person to talk science to is that she attacked my mouth when I told her goodnight.”

Hunter let out a whoop of triumph that had Fitz burring his head once more and throwing the blanket over himself to drown out the noise. “So when are you seeing her again?”

“Don’t know.”

Hunter yanked the blanket from Fitz. “You didn’t ask her out again.”

“Would you get out?!” Fitz demanded. He was well aware that he hadn’t asked her out again and he was kicking himself for it. He’d been so dazed from the sudden kiss she had planted on him and up until then he hadn’t had any good indication that she would agree to one.

“Look the method works Fitz but if you move at your pace, you’ll owe me a ticket home next year.”

“I’ve got her number, I’ll call her later.” He needed time to figure out what he was going to say so he didn’t turn into a stuttering mess.

“Call her now!” A thump to his side indicated that Hunter had thrown his phone at him. “She has to know you’re interested and eager to see her again, it’s in the paper.”

Eventually he sat up and stared down at his phone. He really did want to see her again and the sooner the better. She was absolutely the most amazing person he’d ever met. Brilliant and beautiful and daunting. He scrolled through his phone looking for her number. Before he could stop himself he pressed the phone icon and it was ringing.

“Hello.” She sounded sluggish. She was probably still asleep and he went and woke her up after he’d kept her out so late. Surely if he felt this bad then she did too. What had he been thinking, she should be resting.

“Hello, Fitz?” She sounded tentative. Hunter was standing in front of him mouthing ‘answer her’ his arms waving wildly. “Hello?”

“Hi Jemma.” He said quickly.

“Hello.” She said again, sounding far cheerier than before.

“Hi, uh how-how are you?” There is an audible slap as Hunter’s palm collided with his forehead.

“I’m well, a bit tired.”

Yep he’d gone and woken her up. “Sorry about that, didn’t realize how early it was.”

“Oh no not your fault, my roommate woke me up a bit ago.”

“Oh that’s good, well not good to be woken up especially with the hangover you must have but uh good that I wasn’t the one that did it.”

“Of course.” He could practically see the smile on her face; he could hear it clear as day in her voice.

What was he supposed to be doing again? There had been a reason he’d called her, aside from hearing her voice again. Hunter was making keep going gestures at him that didn’t quite make since until he whispered ‘ask her out.’

“Would you like to hang out tonight?”

“Yes!” Her sudden reply caught him off guard. “I would love to; did you have something to do in mind?”

His widening eyes caught Hunter’s attention and the man fumbled around him for an idea. Fitz stalled. “Yeah, I-I uh do, of course, why would I bother you so early if I hadn’t thought this through.” Hunter extracted a flyer from his back pocket and shoved it at Fitz. “There’s a documentary, on the Amazon playing at the campus auditorium tonight, maybe we could go see that?”

“That sounds lovely, better than a movie I think, they won’t make a fuss if we sneak in food.” He loved her. He’d known her a day and he was fairly certain he loved her.

“I’ll bring the popcorn?” he asked.

“Great, I’ll bring the gluten free biscuits.” Fitz nodded happily before her words clicked with him and he cringed at the thought. “Can’t wait.”

“Same, talk to you later?”

“Later.”

Fitz hung up the phone and looked incredulously at Hunter. “A documentary on the Amazon?” He asked.

“It was excellent, engrossing, thought a couple of nerds like you guys might enjoy it.”

* * *

 

Jemma was starting to get suspicious. After going to see the Amazon documentary, which was very interesting and kept them out late once again as they discussed the horrors that had come upon one of earth’s most beautiful and resourceful habitats, Fitz had suggested she picked the next date.

After, he paled and hurriedly explained that she should not feel obligated to go on a second one with him. She told him that she had a few ideas already in mind already but that they may have to spread it out over a couple dates. He seemed truly surprised, letting out a squeaky really? Which surprised her in return as Daisy had warned her not to come off too clingy.

She had come up with the list to test their common interests and inch them into the intimacy area of the triangle. Insuring they had a real bond and actual friendship.

What made her suspicious was the fact that he genuinely appeared to enjoy every single one of them.

The science museum was a given.

The art museum was more of a surprise. Turned out he had a good brain for history too.

The fancy restaurant. He was definitely a romantic, getting all dressed up and pulling out her chair for her.

He didn’t even mind trekking across town to her favorite bookstore. He’d never been there himself and ended up buying three books and opening a rewards account with them.

The chances they would have that much in common were astronomical but not entirely implausible.

“Subject B is proving to be very agreeable having enjoyed all presented activities. It is my opinion that we have moved into the intimacy corner of the triangle without issue.” Jemma set down the recorder and made a few notes by hand.

“Unless he’s lying.” Daisy said from her spot next to Jemma on the couch.

“I don’t think he’s lying, he’s shown no hesitation when approaching any of the tasks and continues to agree to them.”

“Maybe lying isn’t the right way to phrase it, more like a fib, or,” Daisy struggled to explain, “well I don’t think he’s trying to trick you but if he wants you to like him he might be pretending to enjoy the same things as you.”

Jemma looked at her companion wide eyed. “You don’t really think he would do that?” That would seriously affect her results if he wasn’t being entirely honest with her. The pang of disappoint in her stomach was certainly for the sake of her paper and not that they may not have as much in common as she originally thought. “How can I know for sure that he’s not faking?”

Daisy contemplated for a moment, “easy, why don’t you ask him to participate in some of your more unusual activities.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, less nerd based activities, why don’t you drag him to that vegan restaurant you took me too, that would be a real test.”

Jemma rolled her eyes, she had given the vegan thing ago after researching its health benefits and had been going good for about a month until she came home to find Daisy and her friends making hamburgers. She had eaten three of them. But she did see where Daisy was coming from. She would just have to delve into some of her unique interests.

* * *

 

“Hello Fitz!” Jemma pulled out the stool next to Fitz’s and plopped a kiss on his cheek before settling into it. They were meeting at one of his labs and Jemma took in the drafting tables curiously.

“Hey thanks for coming.” He leaned in to plant a kiss on her lips that left her smiling. They really needed to move them out of this intimacy stage and soon or she was going to have a lot of trouble focusing soon.

“Of course, you said you needed biochem guidance and I am here to guide.”

He smiled quickly at her before pulling the schematics in closer so she could see. “So I told you about the drones, most of the tasks I want them to preform I’m already familiar with, I can create a body heat sensor, I can build a camera into them and I can make them fly, but I’m at a loss for this one.” He flipped to a schematic that on the outside looked identical to the others but the schematic for the inside was empty. “I’m not sure what is the best way to replicate a sense of smell, I thought if I knew more about it-”

“-It would easier to replicate the function.” She said, finishing his thought. “Okay, I can help, but why such an unusual idea?”

“The assignment was to create a device that would aid a certain profession, we pulled from a dish and I got crime scene investigation, I think the professor watches too much television.” Jemma laughed as Fitz shook his head as though it was the most ridiculous thing he could have gotten. “I thought having a device that could smell could be helpful in a situation that may be too dangerous for a canine unit, not to replace them of course.”

“Oh that’s a wonderful idea, had no idea you were such an animal rights activist.” Jemma teased.

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“Alright,” Jemma turned the seat of his stool so that he faced her. “You know how the nose works right.” She placed a finger on his nose, making him go cross eyed.

“At the back of the nose there is the olfactory epithelium, it contains millions of sensory neurons. Proteins on the tips of those cells, called receptors, bind odor molecules.”

Jemma narrow her eyes at him. “Did you just google that?”

“Yeah.”

“Ugh Fitz!” She rolled her eyes before launching it to a lecture on smell and exactly how it worked. How molecules worked like keys to the locks, receptors, at the back of the nose and how each one was a different odor.

Nearly an hour later she asked, “So what have we learned?”

Fitz glanced down at his notes and then back up a her as she waited expectantly. “Your nose scrunches up sometimes, when you smile or think about something really hard.” Her cheeks went warm and she quickly raised her hands to cover her nose. “It’s cute!” He said hurriedly, “really cute, I swear.” He assured her, pulling her hands away.”

Maybe it was their talk of smell that made her hyper aware of his scent. He smelled like paper and pencil shavings, and tea with lots of sugar, soap and minty aftershave. It was pleasant and strangely familiar for its newness to her senses.

“Did you know smell is one of the most powerful senses, it triggers memories and can amplify feelings in a situation that way.” She blurted out.

He just nodded. His attention was back on his schematics.

* * *

“Jemma this is brilliant, how can I thank you?”

She shook her head. “No thank you necessary, I’m happy I can be a part of this, it’s really brilliant, in fact, if I can help with anything else let me know okay.”

“I will, but really anything at all.” Jemma pursed her lips. That was as good an opening as any. She had a new list of her more varied interests but wanted a smooth transition out of their leisurely dates. 

“Well, how do you feel about running?”

“Running for what?”

She snorted. “Not that kind of running, running as in the physical activity.” Jemma elaborated. “You see I could use a partner, my roommate used to run with me but she’s got a late class and I run so earlier I hate to wake her.” She explained quickly. This had to be a good test. Fitz didn’t strike her a go to the gym kind of guy.

“I-Well I guess I could join you, I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up.” At least he wasn’t exaggerating his abilities. That was a nice change of pace.

“Well maybe we can just try it out for a while and see how it goes.”

“Alright then.”

“So we can start tomorrow?”

“What time?”

“6:15, Carter Park.”

 

\--

6:15, Carter Park. Fitz was dying. He was on his feet, stumbling forward, breathing heavy but he was actually dead. He had to be. Jemma was a strong runner, a distance runner. He was not a bad runner but a sprinter would be a better description of his skill in the area. On top of his morning delirium it was a miracle he made it half way around the lake’s perimeter let alone the five times Jemma looped it every morning.

By day four he could barely move. They made it to the far side of the lake and a few minutes ago Fitz had waved Jemma on. He was definitely slowing her down. Any minute now she’d probably lap him.

He was going to kill Hunter.

The two of them could have a joint funeral.

Fitz collapsed onto a nearby bench. “Of course you need to go running with her, it shows commitment.” Fitz muttered mimicking Hunter’s accent in an unflattering way. “Just power through-Yeah I’ll just power through, why don’t I just become an Olympic triathlete overnight.”

She really was perfect; smart and pretty and healthy and athletic. So well rounded. _Very well rounded_. All softly sloping curves and rounded-attributes. The best thing about suffering through the early morning runs was Jemma’s snug fitting workout clothes. He felt rather underdressed himself showing up in old sweatpants and long sleeved shirts compared to her high tech trendy outfits.

“Oh dear, are you alright?”

Fitz opened his eyes to see Jemma leaned over him, ponytail falling forward, rosy cheeked from the early morning chill and a thin layer of sweat coating her forehead.

“Yeah, just needed a break.” He pulled himself up. Even his arms ached.

“You shouldn’t stop so abruptly, you’ll cramp up.” She said, tugging him up to his feet. “Come on, we can do some wind down stretches.”

Not the stretches, he wouldn’t make it through the stretches. “Jemma wait,” she looked at him— hopefully? He had been expecting one of her curious frowns. “Look I really enjoy running with you but I think you need to run with someone who can keep up.”

Her eyes narrowed and she gave a half smile, “I understand, you—you really do enjoy it though?”

He drew a cross over his heart, “I wish I could run faster just so I could keep doing it.” She seems disappointed by his response.

“Alright then, are you doing anything on Saturday?”

He shook his head.

“Oh good, I had an idea of some things we could do.” Fitz nodded eagerly, glad that he hadn’t mucked up his chances with her.

 ---

“She wants to go horse-back riding, followed by a hike, lunch at some restaurant I’ve never heard of and then invited me to some demonstration she’s supposed to see for class, she said she thought I might enjoy it.”

“Have you ever ridden a horse?” Mack asked. Fitz couldn’t blame him for fixating on that bit, he was too.

“Not once.”

“Did you tell her that?”

“Not in so many words.”

“Good.” Hunter jumped in. “Just figure it out when you get there.”

Turns out there was nothing _just_ about riding a horse. He hadn’t realized they were so very large.

“We’re just going to ride them up the trail and then walk down the other side, that way we’ll be able to categorize all the flora and fauna.” Jemma explained as their guide assisted her in mounting the caramel colored mare. Fitz was too embarrassed to ask for assistance but silently agreed to accept it if offered. Why did his horse look like it was scowling at him? He was all white and grey, Jemma had used the word majestic to describe him but Fitz was more apt to use the word haughty.

He mounted with some difficulty; the guide did stand at his side to make sure he didn’t fall off but didn’t offer a hand. Of course not, he wasn’t a gorgeous 23-year-old girl.

“Bit higher than I remember.” Jemma said suddenly. She had a vice grip on the reins and kept looking nervously at the ground.

“Been a while since you’ve ridden?” The guide asked her.

“Oh not too long ago.” She smiled at Fitz instead of the guide as though she was reassuring him instead. “I guess it’s just as thrilling every time.”

They made it most of the way up the trail without issue except for the great discomfort that was riding a horse. He tuned most of it out as Jemma told him stories about trips to her grandparents’ house where she had first ridden a pony named Appleseed. As they approached the end of the trail the guide started to go over information for the trip down. He would be going back down the way they came with the horses and they would carry on down the footpath. They were to stick to the markers, watching out for poison ivy and wildlife. Big animals like bears and wolfs weren’t common to the area so close to the city but it was best to keep their eyes open.

As it turned out, Fitz’s haughty companion had very keen eyes. It also came to Fitz’s attention that he was terrified of snakes which _were_ common to the woods. Fitz was listing to Jemma list the species of birds local to the area when his horse bucked, throwing it’s front legs into the air and letting out a dreadful sound. Fitz just managed to stay on, however the commotion sent Jemma’s horse into a panic and running up the trail. She yelped, clinging on to the reins and saddle and dunking low to avoid the branches coming quickly at her.

The guide immediately went for calming down Fitz’s horse but Fitz waved him off. “Don’t help me, help her.” He shouted, trying desperately to not be thrown as the horse bounced around the limited area of the trail. The guide took off and with some luck Fitz calmed down the steed.

Jemma was well out of sight by then. Panic shot through him and before he knew it he was grasping the reins firmly and shouting at the horse. “Giddyup!”

The horse did nothing but trod in circles.

“Go you bloody beast.”

Still he was ignored.

What had the guide done? Fitz mimicked his movements with his feet and was nearly tossed aside when they took off at a gallop. Trees blurred past him, branches scraped at his face but the sooner he caught up to Jemma the better he’d feel. It had to be soon, they were nearly to the peak. The two horses came into view first without their riders and then Jemma sitting on a bolder with a bottle of water in hand. Relief washed over Fitz and as he approached, still at alarming speeds. Jemma jumped up at sight of him, a smile on her face that quickly morphed into a frown.

He wasn’t stopping.

How did you stop?

He shot past them. The guide yelled after him to pull on the reins.

“Whoa, good horsey, whoa.” What was his name? They told him when they started.

“Whoa Cosmo, Whoa.”  The guide had mounted his own horse, caught up with him and grabbed hold of the reins, slowing them both down. Without a moment’s hesitation, Fitz gracelessly dismounted, practically flinging himself to the unmoving ground. Jemma appeared a moment later, walking with Caramel by her side.

“Fitz! Are you alright?”

“I’m f-fine. A-are you al-alright?”

She nodded. “A bit shaky but no harm done, very glad will be walking back down the trail.”

“Don’t suppose we could get a taxi service up here?”

Jemma laughed. She pulled Fitz up with her free hand and thanked the man who had wrangled all three horses and was walking them back the way they came.

“I promise the rest of the day will be smooth sailing.”

 She was wrong. On the way back Fitz was bitten by no less than ten mosquitos. Walked through what he was sure was poison oak, though Jemma assured him otherwise, and slipped into the small creek, soaking his shoes, pants and bottom of his shirt. They took a few selfies, in which she looked so perfect they could have printed them and put them in the park brochure had he not been sweaty and gross and clearly miserable beside her. The only one he liked was the one she snapped on the bus on the way home.

“Oh I like this one.” She exclaimed. “You’re actually smiling.” It wasn’t a terrible photo. He did promise to smile for just one. They both were pink from sunburn but the relief of finally sitting down gave them a happy glow. Then she set it as her background photo on her phone, dropped her head on his shoulder and rested that way until they parted ways.

They were just showering and changing before meeting at the restaurant which Fitz had meant to google but ended up soaking his feet for an extra ten minutes. It was on campus, so he was sure he’d eaten there at least once and just forgotten the name.

“I tried to eat on a vegan diet for a while, but it uh, wasn’t for me, but this place does make the best salads.” Jemma said happily as she dug into her very green meal. Spinach, broccoli, kale, golden raisins, some sort of vinaigrette. It wasn’t that he couldn’t appreciate a salad but if he was going to eat one he wanted bacon on it. Or for it to be made from potatoes. “I still try to eat healthy though.”

“Yeah, me too.” Fitz said wondering if there was left over pizza in the fridge or if he’d have to pick one up later.

“Really,” she asked skeptically, “you went through an awful lot of pretzels at the bar that night we met and ordered cheesecake for dessert the other night at dinner.”

Observant one she was. “Maybe I eat when I’m nervous.” It wasn’t really a lie. He was a very emotional eater; happy, sad, angry, nervous.

“Nervous about what?”

“That I’m not going to think of anything clever enough that you’ll keep talking to me.”

He knew that was smooth. Another point for self-deprecation. Jemma positively beamed at him. “Well you’re doing a great job.”

\---

Any confidence he had built up over dinner had been shot to hell when they got to Jemma’s final activity of the day. The demonstration.

“Thank you again for coming with me. I absolutely had so see this for my bio lab but I really wanted to spend tonight with you.” She explained.

“It’s no problem.” They were in the campus labs. They were back on his turf. Things were supposed to go well.

“So what sort of demonstration is it?”

Fitz found out soon enough as they entered a viewing room that looked out over an…operating table. And on that operating table…it couldn’t be.

She took him to see an autopsy?

Who takes an innocent bystander to an autopsy?

It took exactly three drops of blood on the pristine work space for Fitz to excuse himself to the restroom. Upon return he was presented with the beautiful visual that was the human brain and excused himself entirely from the building.

“Fitz?” A few minutes had passed since he fled the building when Jemma sat down next to him on the low brick wall outside. She pressed a water bottle into his hands and rubbed gentle circles on his back until the heaving began to subside. “I’m so sorry I had no idea you-uh-you were so squeamish.”

Fitz shook his head. He couldn’t say anything yet, too busy trying to catch his breath after upchucking his god awful lunch into the bushes.

“And your forensic drones, it seemed like such a great opportunity for you too, maybe give you some inspiration, but if I had known I would have never brought you-” She continued to ramble but Fitz couldn’t really take it in anymore.

“Jemma?”

“Yeah?”

“What are you trying to do to me?”

“What?” She gasped.

“Are you trying to get rid of me? Because there are easier ways.”

Her eyes grew wide. “NO! I’m not trying to get rid of you, I’m trying to spend more time with you.”

“Okay well did I give you the impression that I enjoy health food, or any physical activity or watching people be cut open or is this the kind of thing you bring everyone to.”

Jemma squirmed next to him. “I’m sorry.” She retracted her hand to fiddle with the strap of her bag. “Honestly no, I-you see I was suspicious that we were getting on too well, I thought maybe you were not being completely honest about how much you were enjoying the things we were doing together so I tried picking more obscure hobbies.”

“You actually go to these things for fun?”

“Not exactly for fun, I just think they’re fascinating.” Jemma said almost wistfully.

“Well then no worries, we’re not clone copies.” Fitz snapped. Jemma flinched and Fitz regretted his snipe. He could understand her point of view, surely someone had feigned interest in her hobbies before just to be with her. “I’m sorry, I guess I could have been more honest, basically everything today was awful except for the fact that I was with you, I don’t eat healthy, ever, I prefer being inside 99% of the time, although cataloging the plants with you wasn’t so bad and I don’t run unless something is chasing me.”

“But the museums and bookstore and other restaurants?” She asked tentatively.

“All fantastic.” He assured her.

“Well maybe you ought to pick the next few dates.”

“So these _are_ dates?”

“Well I hope so.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Chapter for you lovies.

“Jemma when was the last time you rode a horse?”

“That would also be the first time when I was eight and my grandparents bought Appleseed.” Jemma poured the hot water into her mug and limped her way over to the kitchen table. She’d forgotten the physical strain of horseback riding. “Honestly I’m not sure who was more terrified up on the horse me or him.”

“And then you stuffed him full of rabbit food and took him to a dissection, well at least you know he really likes you.”

“Yeah I guess so.”

Jemma picked up her recorder. “In an attempt to prove Subject B was not being dishonest in his reviews of previous activities he was presented with a different set of activities that stretched in to subject A’s lesser hobbies. In these cases, he struggled through with minor complaining until presented with a situation that was beyond his tolerance level. Subject B is very squeamish. However, I have been reassured that previous activities were thoroughly enjoyable and he would gladly repeat any of them. In an attempt to gather more data on subject B I’ve requested he arrange the parameters of our next encounter.”

Daisy was grinning like a Cheshire cat over her bowl of ice cream. “So what are the poor boy’s plans? After what he’s been through he’ll probably end up taking you to the library, quiet, safe, no snakes.”

“I don’t know, he didn’t say.” But it was something to consider. Jemma thought as she sipped her tea.

“Well whatever it is you might want to find a way to move things along.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Daisy started, setting down her own mug and looking her straight in the eye, “you’ve been seeing him for two weeks, have you kissed him sense your drunken chemistry test that first night.”

“Of course I have, plenty of times.” Nothing as intense as that first kiss, which they’d both silently agreed to write off as rushed into due to outside influences, or inside if you got technical. “I kiss him after all of our dates.”

“But like a chaste little kiss or like a real kiss?”

Jemma fiddled with the handle of her mug. She’d been holding back, she couldn’t deny it, but that was for the sake of the assignment and not moving too fast. It certainly wasn’t because she didn’t want to. “Well you’re the one who told me not to move to quickly with him, I’m just following your suggestion.”

“Jemma you have to let him know your physically interested in him too, I’m not saying sleep with him but if the most he’s gotten out of you was that first kiss he might start to think it was a fluke, you said he was surprised when you actually called your dates ‘dates’.”

“Well it’s certainly not that I don’t want to, I just wanted to insure a smooth transition from intimacy to passion, I’ll figure something out.” Jemma didn’t bother to mention that Fitz hadn’t exactly made any passes at her aside from reciprocating her good night kisses.

Her phone beeped beside her, the selfie she had snapped earlier lighting up her screen. She smiled fondly at it before opening the message Fitz had sent.

_Wednesday-stay in and watch a movie? I’ll fix us dinner._

**_I didn’t know you cooked._ **

_I never said anything about cooking._

Jemma laughed out loud and Daisy snatched the phone out of her hands. “Oh, I guess I was worried for nothing.”

“It’s just dinner and a movie at his place.”

“Sounds an awful lot like Netflix and Chill to me.”

“He’s not the type to proposition something like that.” Jemma said hurriedly but a little ball of hope was building in her stomach. Maybe he had just wanted to move things slowly. There _were_ ways to tell that he was physically attracted to her. Bodily reactions that she could look for.  She stood quickly to go pull the grocery list pad from the fridge. She ripped off the top page: Beer, Siracha—

She jotted down a new list.

_Increased Heart Rate_

_Sweaty Palms_

_Nervous Ticks_

_Pupil Dilation_

_Lowered Voice_

_Mimicked Behavior_  

* * *

 

Jemma knocked on the apartment door. She’s never seen his apartment before, though to be fair he had not seen hers either. She knew he had two roommates, who she wouldn’t mind meeting but greatly hoped had their own plans for the evening.

She double checked the number again when no one answered. She knocked again and heard a crash from the other side. “One minute.” There was some more clatter, followed by a few expletives and then the door was pulled open revealing a rather disheveled Fitz. “Hi.”

“Hi!”

That may have come out more enthusiastic then she intended but he was cute when rumpled. Actually he was cute when he was all put together in his button downs and ties, the only way she had really seen him thus far. He was downright attractive with his sleeves rolled up and his top few buttons undone and a few extra days of scruff on his face. His hair was always mussed but today even more so. “I’m so sorry Jemma, I’ve been busy these past couple days, the apartment’s a mess and I just finished up some work and didn’t realize the time, I was throwing dinner together, shelf came down in the cabinet, crappy construction in these student apartments, charge you more to repair them then it cost of put them in.”

“Fitz, Fitz it okay.” Jemma tried to grab at his hands as they gestured wildly around them. When she finally got them to stop swinging she looked him in the eye. “It’s okay Fitz, everyone has busy days.”

“Right, I just-you asked me to plan the next-um, date-and I just wanted it to go well.”

“I’m sure it will be marvelous.”

_Eye Contact_ and _Smiling_. Check.

“So um, this is the apartment, kitchen’s over there,” he pointed at a galley style kitchen right off the entry way. Boxes had been hastily stacked on the counter except for one that had burst open, sending macaroni across the room. “Living room, bathroom, my workspace,” a drafting table pushed into the corner, fresh schematics lay attached to it with obvious pencil smudges that matched the ones on his hands and to her amusement his face. “Mack’s bedroom is over there, Hunter’s is down the hall on the left, mine’s on the right.”

On the right. Jemma would just file that away for future reference.

“Okay, well I’ll just go get changed and see what I can salvage of dinner.”

“What’s wrong with what your wearing now?”

Fitz looked down at himself and Jemma took the opportunity to do the same. “It just these are just day off clothes, old and stained, --“

“And comfy, perfect for staying in to enjoy a movie.”

“Aright, well then I guess I’ll just skip to salvaging dinner, you can have a seat if you want.”

“I could help.”

“Wouldn’t that be cheating?”

“Cheating at what?”

“I don’t know, I just wanted to try and make you a nice romantic dinner and the damn shelf dumped the macaroni across the floor.”

“I’m sure you’ve got something else here.”

“Not really, I specifically went out any bought that.” Jemma looked around the cabinets and in the fridge. She really wanted to find something to work with. The close quarters of the kitchen would give her plenty of opportunity to test him for some physical reactions to her presence. “I can just have a pizza delivered.” Fitz said, going for his phone. Jemma open the last cabinet. A gleeful ‘aha’ escaped her before she could stop it.

“Look Fitz, we can make pancakes.” She hoisted a heavy box of pancake mix onto the counter. “You’ve got an egg and milk, any butter?” Fitz reached into a grocery bag and reveled a box of butter and jar of sauce.

It took some hunting and some washing to find a bowl and a pan. Fitz insisted on doing most of the work which left her to implement her ideas.

She stood unnecessarily close. Actually had their shoulders brushing as he mixed up the batter. When it started to smooth out Jemma reached over to stick her finger in and taste test it. She slowly sucked the batter from her finger. Daisy would be unbelievably proud. “Needs something, do you have any vanilla?”

Jemma grinned as Fitz tore his eyes away from her to stare dumbly at the closed cabinets. Unless he acquired some x-ray vision he wasn’t going to find it that way. She thought she had seen some earlier in the cabinet above the stove but let him flounder around in search of it instead.

“Uh here it is.”

Jemma uncapped the bottle and inhaled deeply. “You should program the drone to smell vanilla, everyone, man or machine, should be able to smell this.”

For a minute he came to himself. “Definitely.” Jemma added a couple drops to the mix and blended it in. She tested it for herself once more and still feeling high on her last success offered another finger full to Fitz. He just looked at it unblinking. “It’s really good.” She tried.

Fitz used his own finger to wipe the batter from hers before taste testing it. “Delicious.” He said quietly, his cheeks turning a fire engine red. “I think the p-pan is h-hot enough now.”

_Blushing_ and _stammering_. Check.                          

“How many do you want?” He asked. His voice had gone very low. Check.

“Just two is fine for me.” She stepped up behind him, sliding her arms around his waist and pressing gently against his back. She felt him stiffen up. Maybe she should have eased into this more slowly. Just as she was about to pull away he relaxed.

“Only two, you have to eat at least three.”

“Why is that?”

“It will throw off the aesthetic of your plate.” Jemma laughed into the dip between his shoulder blades and could feel his own chuckles rumble through him. “I uh need a plate.”

Jemma pulled herself away reluctantly.

A few minutes later the two settled on to the couch with their plates. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather eat at the table?”

“I’m sure, I want to know what movie you picked.”

“Well they just uploaded all the Paranormal Activity movies to Netflix, I’ve had the early ones playing in the background all day.” He was sincerely excited by this fact. Jemma did what she could to keep her face neutral. She personal didn’t care for horror or suspense flicks. “I know they’re ridiculously stupid but I don’t know I guess I like tearing them apart.”

Jemma wanted to agree. Except the damn horror movies did make her jumpy. She didn’t mind the gore; it was the things jumping out that made her tense. And unfortunately that’s a lot of what Paranormal Activity was.

At least she had an excuse to snuggle into Fitz’s side. Once he was finished with his own, much larger, stack of pancakes Jemma took his hand in hers. She had to consider her next move carefully. She wanted them to move into romantic without out right crossing the line into just lust. Jemma flinched when the suspenseful music shot up and the lights flickered on screen. She released his hand to bring hers to her chest over her heart.

“Are you sure you don’t want to watch something else?”

“Oh no this is fine, I’m just being silly.”

Fitz looked down at her uncertainly before settling back on the couch. Jemma lowered her hand, meaning to take up his hand again only to reroute mid-way and come to rest on his thigh, much closer to his knee then anywhere scandalous. He still reacted. Jemma could feel his gaze shift down to her but kept her own firmly on the television. After a moment the arm he had resting on the back of the couch slipped down around her shoulders. His thumb stroked gently on her bare arm. She really must thank Daisy for helping her chose an appropriate outfit for the occasion.

She tilted her head up. His eyes were fixed firmly back on the TV. Jemma leaned up and pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw and then another and another. His jaw was bristly. She ran her nose along the same path her lips had followed.

_Heavy breathing_. Check.

His eyes met hers. “Hi.” She whispered.

“Hi.”

She was pleased that he initiated the next kiss. Sealing his sticky sweet lips over hers. Pancakes for dinner was a great idea. Jemma twisted to better lean into him. Fitz’s hand snatched up hers from his knee, lacing their fingers together. She kept it there long enough to register his clammy hands before tugging it away. Her hands wanted their own turn running along his jaw. Fitz shifted his hands to her back. They broke apart for mere seconds to gasp for breath and dove back in. In Jemma’s hazy mind she remembered she was supposed to check for a few other things.

What had there been?

Fitz broke away again, this time to kiss down her neck. That would be fun. Her hands slipped down to his chest to allow her mouth access to the hallow of his throat. He groaned and she felt it rumble under her fingertips.

Heartbeat, that was on the list. She shifted her hand so it rested over his heart then pulled him into to the most passionate kiss she could muster. She slid her tongue over the seam between his lips until he parted them for her.

_Increased heartrate_. Check.

The opening and slamming of the front door had Jemma tearing herself away from Fitz who yelped in surprise and, well he didn’t exactly shove her off but she wasn’t gracefully removed.

An angry looking fellow, Jemma barely recognized him as the man Fitz had been with at the bar that first night, stomped into the room. “Can you believe her, I’m not asking for much, she could have just off-hand mentioned it, it’s not like I would have stopped her.”

Jemma looked curiously at the man who was mid-conversation but not on the phone. She looked back at Fitz. He didn’t care much that his roommate had returned, staring at her instead.

_Dilated pupils_. Check.

“Hunter what are you doing back so soon?”

“Bloody hell-beast, don’t know why I bother.” He muttered as he rummaged the kitchen. He picked up the bowl that once held the pancake batter. “What you didn’t save me any?”

“I’m sorry,” his apology wasn’t directed at the irate Brit in the kitchen but at her, “he was supposed to be gone tonight.”

“He seems, charming?”

“He’s a prick.” Fitz replied.

“Sounds like he could use a friend right now.” Jemma said as she fixed her mused hair and shirt.

“The only friend he’s going to want right now is in a bottle.”

“Ugh, Fitz.”

“Alright.”

Jemma leaned in to place a gentle kiss on his lips. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Good.” 

* * *

 

“When presented with proper stimulus subject B presented all the most common physical signs of attraction including but not limited to: increased heart rate, active sweat glands, especially effecting the hands, dilated pupils and eye contact.”

“Jemma I absolutes cannot believe you.” Daisy said her shoulders shaking with laughter. “You literally walked in there, got him all hot and bothered and walked out.”

“First of all I didn’t just walk out, what were we going to do, keep making out with his roommate in the kitchen and second he’s not the only one whose all wound up over it.”

“He has his own bedroom doesn’t he.”

“You’re the one who keeps telling me not to move too fast.” Jemma pulled her knees up to use them to rest her note pad on. She wrote in silence. Daisy clearly didn’t have a retort for her. She had a near full page of notes on the evening written out when Daisy spoke again.

“So how do you know his reactions were real?”

Jemma looked up trying to understand what she was getting at. Daisy was fiddling with her phone, but glanced her way every few seconds. In the end Jemma shook her head. “They’re biological reactions, trust me this is my area of expertise.”

“Well you were watching paranormal activity and a lot of the physical reactions to attraction are also physical reactions to fear, it seems like it at least.”

Jemma was mid-eye roll when she realized Daisy wasn’t entirely wrong. There could have been a lot of overlap in bodily reactions. The increased heart rate was also associated with fear, which was what caused heavy breathing and increased perspiration. “But Fitz told me himself the movies were laughable to him and he was reacting before we ever sat down for the movie.”

“But you said, he had the other movies on all day and what guy admits to being scared of movies like that? They don’t.”

Jemma frowned. Her notes were completely compromised at this point. She would have to recollect all of her data. She reached for her phone.

“What are you doing?”

“I have to retest, I can recreate tonight, keeping all the parameters the same except for the choice of movie and see if it yields the same results. We do this all the time in my labs.”

“But Jemma this isn’t a l—“

Jemma shushed Daisy as she listened to the phone ring. “Fitz Hi, are you doing anything tomorrow night?” 

* * *

 

Fitz opened the door more composed than he had the night before. Jemma had basically presented him with second chance to get it right when she called him last night and he was definitely taking her up on it. Hunter, who had set aside his own distress over Bobbi, gave him points he needed to focus on from the paper and with the day to prepare he felt more comfortable doing so.

He had the water boiling for dinner, he didn’t want to get to far ahead, hoping Jemma might offer her help once more. Jemma stood before him looking as pretty as always, he had made sure to leave time to change into proper clothes himself. She stepped into the apartment. Was she wearing the same clothes as the night before? There was something familiar about her outfit, but maybe it was just a favorite or hers. Surely she did her laundry more often than he did his own.

“Oh you look so nice.” She looked over his outfit then added. “Are you going to be comfortable like that, buttoned up and all?”

“Um, yeah I guess, I dress like this a lot.”

“Well you really should roll up yourselves while we cook, don’t want to get those cuffs all messy.” She bounced into the kitchen. Fitz followed after her, rolling up his sleeves as requested. “Oh.”

“What’s wrong?”

She was staring at the pot on the stove and the line of macaroni, sauce and cheese next to it. Her brow scrunched and Fitz couldn’t fathom what was had upset her. “It’s nothing I just, I guess I had a craving for more of those pancakes.”

_Be flexible. Work with what she wants just don’t be a push over._ That wouldn’t be hard, he hated to disappoint her. “Well I haven’t really started this yet. We could still make more pancakes if you really want to, I just have to wash the bowl again, hang on.”

“Oh thank you, I’d really appreciate that.”

“It’s no trouble.” Fitz washed the dishes they would need and watched Jemma from the corner of his eye as she put the spaghetti ingredients away and retrieved the ones they would need for pancakes. Fitz wondered if she was intentional reaching and bending in such provocative ways or if he was being a pig. She had done the exact same thing last night. It had to be intentional right. So he shouldn’t feel bad for looking while she did so.

“Oh we’re a little low on milk.” Jemma said.

“Is that okay? We can always go back to the macaroni.” Fitz watched Jemma contemplate over the container of milk.

“No it’ll be okay, we can substitute water.”

Fitz nodded. He mixed up the batter, Jemma once more pressed into his side. “I started on the components to allow the drone to smell vanilla, I’m afraid my professors going to think I’m bonkers, I’ll have to explain why a crime scene aid would need to sniff out vanilla.”

“Oh let me test the batter.”

A sense of déjà vu overcame Fitz as she licked the pancake batter from her finger. “Try some?” She offered her finger to him. Yesterday he had been so flustered by her actions he panicked and brushed his finger across hers to share the batter. Today, feeling more confused than anything else he licked the batter from her fingers. Well maybe there were some feelings stronger than the confusion.

He wondered if he could get away with kissing her and put off making the pancakes a little longer. He dipped his head to meet her lips with his and she weaved out of the way. “Oh burners hot, should probably start.”

Fitz frowned. The burner wasn’t the only thing that was heating up quickly. He quelled his desire to trap Jemma between him and the counter while they fed each other the raw batter and willed himself to make dinner.

He held the bowl and ladle out to her. “Did you want to pour the batter?”

“No that’s alright.” He shrugged and stepped up to the stove. He was a couple pancakes in when Jemma pressed against him from behind, her arms circling him and her hands playing at his sides.

He wasn’t sure how to respond. When he tried to kiss her she moved away. Now she was being cuddly with him again. Did he turn around and try to kiss her again? Did she just want to be near him? He couldn’t really fathom that possibility and yet here she was with her fingers tickling at his stomach and her breath on the back of his neck. Again the déjà vu struck.

Fitz dropped two pancakes on a plate. “For you.” He said holding the plate back to her and trying for a flirty tone.

“You’re not going to ask me how many I want?”

“Oh sorry, I just assumed you would want two again, you can have this one too.” He gestured at the pan.

“Oh no, two is fine.” Jemma said. She picked up the plate. “I guess I’m just determined to mess with that pancake aesthetic.” She grinned. Almost too much. She had the most beautiful smile but there was something different about it this time, something expectant.

“Guess so.”

Silent. Definitely not the response she was looking for. “So what are we watching tonight?”

“I don’t know, did you want to watch the earlier Paranormal Activity movies?”

“NO!” Her sharp response caused him to splash extra batter into the pan. One extra-large pancake for him then. “I mean, maybe something different,” she looked panicked. “You uh, you haven’t watched them today have you?”

He shook his head. “I’ve had back to back classes all day.” Maybe the movie had scared her? He should have known better than to take Hunter’s advise, although he was surprisingly good at picking documentaries. He would just pick something more neutral for their viewing. “How about some Dr. Who?”

“That would be perfect.”

Fitz set up the show and moved to take a seat on Jemma’s right. “Wait could you sit on this side?” She said placing her hand on the cushion to her left.

“Course.”

The two settled in and Fitz dug into his pancakes. They definitely were not as good as they had been last night. Apparently the substitution wasn’t an equal trade but covered in syrup it really didn’t matter. Jemma finished before him. She took her plate back into the kitchen and returned. She looked down at him uncertainly.

“Everything okay?” He was asking that an awful lot today.

“I was just going to offer to take your plate, thought you might be done by now, yesterday you practically inhaled your food.” She gave a little laugh but her comment didn’t feel like a joke.

“Maybe I took too many today, uh, here.” He lifted the plate to her and her eyes lit up. She was acting very peculiar. But then Fitz had discovered that Jemma Simmons was kind of a peculiar girl. And when she returned from the kitchen she snuggled right into his side, head falling on his shoulder and Fitz decided she could be as peculiar as she wanted to be if things were going in the same direction they had last night.

Hunter was out moping about Bobbi which typically kept him out to all hours of the morning. He likely wouldn’t be barging in on them tonight.

Some time passed while they watched. Jemma would speak up every once and a while, always it seemed when he was about to try to make some sort of move towards picking up their activities from the night before. They were just barely past the opening scene of the third episode when Jemma’s hand settled on his leg. In the exact same spot as last night.

That was the sign right? Last night he had moved slowly, hesitant in moving forward physically because of his own inexperience and because of Hunter’s warnings. Don’t move too fast but don’t move so achingly slow. Translated, don’t sleep with her yet, strange words of wisdom from Hunter of all people, but you gotta move past holding her hand. Fitz was way beyond wanting to hold her hand. His arm basically acting of its own accord immediate looped around her and pulled her farther into his side. He looked down at her, to find her looking up at him. Her eyes went wide and she looked away quickly.

He had misinterpreted.

Things weren’t going the same way as last night.

He retracted his arm and stared back at the TV.

Jemma reached around her and pulled his arm back to around her shoulders.

Then her lips were on his jaw again and his neck. She really was a peculiar girl. Fitz was kind of afraid to look her in the eye again, thinking she may pull away a second time. Her nose ran along his jaw and down his neck. He still didn’t look.

“Fitz.”

“Hmm?”

“Are you going to look at me?” He honestly wasn’t sure.

He just barely turned his head to meet her eyes.

“Hi.” She said happily.

“Hi.”

“You can kiss me.”

He paused. “Are you sure?”

Her brow furrowed. “Yes, of course.”

Well he certainly wasn’t going to wait for her to change her mind again. He surged forward to capture her lips and she let out a little squeak of surprise. She turned herself towards him, giving him a better angle to seal his mouth over hers and allowing both his hands access to her waist. She responded enthusiastically. Until she stopped. She tugged at one of his clammy hands, intertwining their fingers and then quickly returned her soft lips back to his. Then her hands were on his neck, caressing his jaw. Strange she would go through all that trouble for his hand just to let it go.

Strange, he thought. Her lips replaced her hands.

Strange, but not important.

He peppered kisses on her face where he could reach it before pulling her back up for another searing kiss. Her tongue licked at his lower lip for a brief moment before she slipped it into his mouth, forcing a groan from the back of his throat.

She pulled away again. She looked down at him with a curious look. He must make quite the sight, pinned into the corner of the couch, breathing heavy, primal noises, clothes and hair in disarray, all her fault of course but still a bit embarrassing. She didn’t seem so focused on that though. She was looking him right in the eyes. Then she was smiling. Like someone had given her a trophy or a prize or an autographed Tardis. The kind of smile he absolutely had to return.

She kissed him again. Gently this time. He brought his hand up to run through her hair, cupped the back of her head to draw her closer and reciprocate. She sighed contently against his mouth, it was more of a feeling then a noise but regardless he wanted it to happen again. He released her lips to kiss down her jaw. Sure enough more sighs graced his ears and one drawn out moan as he took a chance sucked at the smooth freckly point between her shoulder and neck.

Her hips jolted. An action he felt every bit of as she was basically straddling his lap by that time. His own moan escaped him and he promptly pulled back.

“Wait.”

“We should stop.”

“It’s not that this isn’t great,”

“but I think we shouldn’t yet.”

“I really like you.”

“Don’t want to mess it up.”

Fitz stared at her in amazement. “I think, I think we might be on the same page.”

“Well that’s good.” There was another long stretch of silence while his breathing began to even out and she traced the stitching on his shirt with her finger.

“So, um, do we-should you leave?” She frowned. “NOT that I want you to! I just, heat of the moment, don’t want to-do anything we’re not ready to do.”

“Right.” She said it like she agreed but still she stayed perched on his lap. Her hands came up around her neck, a nervous tick he had noticed in her when she was conflicted although it was usually over science. Her fingers danced over the reddening spot on her neck where his mouth had been just moments ago. He was poised to apologize when she spoke again. “You know if we really want to stay on the same page, I should probably give you one of these too.”

So she did.

A fact Hunter was absolutely giving him shit about when he got home. Though finding them asleep, fully dressed, on the couch did give him limited ammunition.

After Jemma left, assuring him that she could get home just fine and she would text him when she got there so he knew, Hunter turned on him.

“Have a good night?”

“Yeah, it was-“ Fitz contemplated his answer. “It was great.”

“What was that pause about?”

“Nothing, just Jemma was acting kind of weird tonight.” Hunter raised an eyebrow at him. “Not like that, she just went from flirty to standoffish and back like ten times and I think she was trying to repeat last night.”

“Well you did look like you were having fun when I walked in yesterday.”

“But exactly the same.” Fitz clarified. “Same dinner, same actions, same-dialog.”

“Maybe that’s her move.”

“Her move?”

“Like her full proof way to get the goods, everyone’s got one, even Bobbi.” Fitz wasn’t sure about Hunter’s reasoning. He would have been happy to give her the goods from the start, pancakes and conversation aside but she put it off.

“Well she didn’t get all of the goods, but she said she wanted to take things slow because she really likes me.”

“Well that’s either a really good sign or a bad one.” Fitz faltered. How could ‘I really like you’ be considered anything but a good sign. “Oh you are so naïve, I mean she’s probably being honest, she seems like a decent girl mate but that sounds a lot like a common brush off-don’t look at me like that I’m the one routing for the two of you, you’re the one who benefits if this whole thing crashes and burns.”

Fitz walked away. He was still on a high from his evening spent with Jemma and wasn’t going to let his mind start to play games with him.

________________________________________________________________________________


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this chapter is kind of fun. Lots of Daisy and who doesn't love some meddling Daisy.

Jemma couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t from any sort of restlessness. Logically she should have been both physically and mentally exhausted after the week she had. She’d woken up early for her run every day, then it was straight to back to back classes and labs all day. She just barely was able to squeeze in meals and her time with Fitz had been limited to a shared slot with their study time. Not that that was a bad thing, honestly she felt she was more productive with him around, spurred by his brilliant ideas to elaborate on her own. They snagged the largest table in the library right after classes and spread out their work. She had the sneaking feeling the librarian disapproved of them taking up so much space, and her loud excited outbursts when she was particularly keen on a new idea. Maybe she would look into reserving one of the labs after hours.

The library also had the benefit of old isles with little to no foot traffic. She had lured Fitz into a few of them with the promise of an interesting passage she’d found in an old book only to push him against the shelves and kiss him. Eventually he caught on and hunted down his own interesting passages.

Unfortunately, Fitz had work some nights and she didn’t love the idea of the whole empty study room to herself so on those nights she tucked herself into a smaller corner of the library and was able to keep her workspace neat and organized.

She hadn’t seen Fitz tonight. Apparently one of the other tech services people had come down with the flu and until they could find someone else to cover the position Fitz would have to do so. Well he didn’t have to he explained to her, but he could really use the money.

But on the days she didn’t see him or if she only saw him briefly, sometimes that just made it worse, she couldn’t sleep. Maybe she could pick up a part time tutoring job to have something to do, she thought as she turned over in bed once more to stare at the clock. It would be nice to have an extra bit of money. Maybe she could save up enough to buy con tickets for her and Fitz. Assuming of course he’d like to go with her.

Maybe they could even wear a cute couple’s costumes. That might be a bit harder to get him to agree to.

She grabbed her phone off the side table, squinting against the harsh light as she searched for con dates.

Then it hit her. What she was doing. It was a sign.

Jemma sat up, discarding her phone into the mess of sheets as her eyes searched the dark room for her recorder. “Oh!” Her desk. As she tried to stand up her legs tangled in the blankets and sent her sprawling on to the floor with a bang that surely woke the people who lived beneath her.

A moment later Daisy burst into the room, fight stance ready.

“What the hell Simmons?!” She demanded upon seeing no threat. “I thought someone was attacking you in here.”

“It’s limerence!” She said as she reached for the desk from the floor.

“What?”

“Limerence is a state of mind brought about by an infatuation or obsession with another person, it is a very important characteristic of romantic love.”

Daisy stared at her in frustration. “This is about your psychology project again.”

“Yes, you see limerence includes obsessive thoughts or fantasies about the object of one’s desire.” 

“That sounds stalkerish but okay.”

Jemma lowered the recorder from her mouth. “Not like that, well not exactly like that, they’re technically intrusive thoughts, they happen without my meaning to, I don’t decide to think about it, it just happens.”

“Of course your having fantasies Jemma, the unresolved sexual tension between the two of you must be off the charts.”

“But that’s just it, the fantasies don’t have to be sexual in nature; they can be about just spending time together and having your feelings reciprocated, for example, wanting to go to an event with a person.”

Jemma pressed down the button on her recorder. “A breakthrough has been made, subject A is currently experiencing feelings of limerence. A desire to spend even more time with the subject B.” Daisy narrowed her eyes at Jemma who rolled hers in return. “Sexual fantasies, also a part of limerence are also present in subject A.”

“Are you seriously going to turn this into your professor?”

“He’s a professional, besides its highly unlikely this is the most personal thing he’s ever heard from a student.” Jemma played with the recorder in her hands. “I wish there was a way to know if Fitz was experiencing this as well.”

“Well he does tend to day dream a lot.” Daisy said through a yawn as her burst of adrenaline wore off.

Jemma looked up at her roommate confused. “What do you mean, how would you know?”

“He’s picked up all those extra shifts from the guy I usually work with, I see him all the time, he’s usually on his game with fixing stuff but lately he’s been distracted.”

Jemma struggled to her feet. She was going to have an awful bruise in the morning but that wasn’t important now. “I completely forgot you two worked together, Daisy you can get inside information for me.”

“You want me to ask him if he’s fantasizing over his girlfriend instead of doing his work, I don’t think that’ll go well.”

“Not if you ask like that it won’t.” Jemma said obviously. Daisy still looked skeptical. “Just fish around and see if maybe he’ll talk about me, you’re not exactly new to gossiping.”

“Alright, I’ll give it a go, now I’m going back to bed, try not to get too enthusiastic over any other fantasies, I don’t want to go on a midnight run to the hospital, could you imagine explaining that.” Jemma blushed at Daisy’s finally comments.

* * *

 

“Is that your girlfriend?”

Fitz looked down the counter where his coworker Daisy was sitting perched on her stool at her workstation. A sneaky smile played at her lips. Heat rushed to his cheeks. He hadn’t realized it but he had been staring down at his phone at a picture he had snapped of Jemma last time they were together. He had been watching her read a passage from a biology text, in a completely non-creepy way, when she suddenly looked up at him. She had looked so pretty he asked her to stay still while he took a picture. She had blushed at the compliment, insisted on tacking her own picture of him and then shortly later disappeared to the engineering section of the library.

Fitz blushed harder as he remembered what had conspired in the less traveled aisle of the library.

“Yeah, yeah um Jemma.”

“She’s very pretty.” Daisy said, leaning closer to get a better look.

“Oh.” Did he say thank you? He really had nothing to do with her attractiveness. “She is; I mean I think so too.”

“Have you guys been dating long?”

“We met around the beginning of the semester.” He answered. Honestly he was a bit unclear when they officially started dating. They’d had a first kiss the night they met and then weeks passed before they really progressed to more than that.

Daisy smiled in a way that said that’s nice before turning back to her computer to field more calls from frantic professors who couldn’t get their projection equipment up and running. 

* * *

 

The next day a guy in scrubs came in to talk to Daisy. He must have been in the med program. The two talked flirtingly and for quite a while but Fitz wouldn’t call her out on it. It was a slow day anyways. Once he had finally left Fitz felt as though he should return her conversation starter.

“Was that your boyfriend?”

Daisy looked like a dear caught in the headlights. “Um, no just a friend of mine.”

“Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to assume, I just-“

“It’s okay, there are worse things than having an attractive future doctor mistaken for my boyfriend.”  Daisy joked but Fitz was certain the girl was covering for some sort of discomfort. “So what does Jemma study.”

Changing the topic, he was familiar with the tactic. “She’s a double PhD candidate, Biology and Chemistry.”

“A super nerd, you two sound perfect for each other.”

“Actually we’ve gotten quite competitive because of it, she’s constantly trying to one up me.”

“Oh the whose smarter than who debate, only with actual competition.”

“She’s probably smarter but only because she likes homework more than life itself.” With that Daisy dissolved into a fit of laughter.

* * *

 

“Daisy I already know he has a picture of me on his phone, he asked me if I’d mind if he used it, can’t you tell me anything else?” Jemma held her head in her hands and stared down at the blank page of notebook paper.

“Well he’s definitely got love on the brain, he outright assumed that Lincoln was my boyfriend when he came in to bring me a text book.” Jemma had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. She had to assume the girl was still getting over the mess that was Ward and that was why she didn’t see poor Lincoln pinning over her. Regardless she made a note _. Subject B reflects own relationship bliss on to another couple._

“What else?”

“Geez Simmons, I’ve worked two days with him, he’s happy to brag about you, thinks your brilliant, even smarter than him.”

Jemma’s eyes shot up. “He really said that?”

“Well he said you were probably smarter based on your intense love of homework, that’s the love story you should have written about, scientists would be enthralled.”  Daisy explained. “But I think he likes the competitiveness between the two of you, he got a sort of twinkle in his eyes when it came up.” Jemma wasn’t sure the information was pertinent to her assignment but she did file the tidbit away for her own reference.

“Try to find out if he thinks about doing things with me.”

“I already told you I’m not asking him if he has weird sexual fantasies about you, I have to work with him and I live with you and—“

Jemma groaned, “you know that’s not what I mean, ask him if he thinks about going to dinner with me.”

“Somehow I don’t think that’s going to be any less weird then asking him the other thing, I need an opener.” Daisy fiddled with her phone like she was waiting for it to buzz. When it did she looked down urgently. A content smile crossed her features. Lincoln.

“What if I text him while you’re at work together?” Jemma suggested. “See how he responds to a message from me.”

"Alright, that could actually work."

* * *

 

The tech services center was achingly silent. The only noise came from the tools Fitz dropped as he tried to fix the ancient slide projector the art history teacher had dropped off earlier. He wanted to explain to him that not only was the device outdated but probably not benefiting his students with its poor resolution. But then he’d have to spend another afternoon teaching him how to operate the high tech projection equipment and the computer that controlled it.

Fitz jumped when the quiet of the room was broken by a buzz from his phone. He looked around to see if it had disturbed anyone else. No one seemed bothered. Daisy cast a glance at him but didn’t say anything.

**_Hi Fitz!_ **

Fitz smiled down at the phone.

_Hey what’s up?_

**_Oh I just wanted to ask you about how your day was._ **

_It’s been alright. The art professor brought in his ridiculous slide projector again. Its’s basically held together with paperclips and twist ties at this point, I’m not sure how many more times I can fix it._

His phone went silent after that.

Across the room Daisy’s phone started to jingle.

Fitz frowned at his phone. He kind of expected at least a smiley face response.

_How is your studying going?_ He texted hoping to encourage a reply.

**_We’ll what am I supposed to say?_ **

**_Oh sorry Fitz, that message was for a classmate._ **

_That’s okay._

His phone went silent again. She was probably texting someone else about school work. He knew how distracted she could get over that.

Daisy laughed at her own phone and then set it aside. A couple minutes passed before Jemma texted him again.

**_Sorry to bother you at work, I was just thinking about you is all, wanted to say hi._ **

Fitz could feel his cheeks warming. _Oh no problem, I’d rather talk to you anyways_.

**_If the library is still open when you get off, do you want to meet up? Or we could catch a late movie, I think that awful sci-fi thriller is playing at the campus theater._ **

_If It’s awful why do you want to see it?_

**_FITZ! I don’t want to watch the movie, I thought we could just make use of the dark theater._** The little wink-y emoji at the end cleared up an confusion on Fitz’s part.

_Oh, well um, it’s kind of dead here, maybe I can leave a little early._

**_You don’t have to do that, but um let me know if you can._ **

“Hey Daisy?” Fitz said suddenly. She looked over at him almost knowingly.

“Yes?”

“Could you, I mean do you think you could handle it, work, if I left a little early.” Her knowing smile morphed into a smirk.

“Going to see Jemma?” She asked. He froze. “Cause if you are then that’s okay? At least one of us should get to have some fun tonight.”

“Really?”

At that moment the Tech Services director, the one they rarely ever saw and usually gave them assignments via email walked in with a woman Fitz recognized as the university president Ms. Hand. “And here are just a few of our student workers, diligently helping fellow students by keeping their valued laptops running at top quality.”

Daisy frowned. “Course tonight would be the night they send the president to insure funding was going to good use, I guess neither of us are getting away tonight.” 

* * *

 

“So let’s play a game.” Daisy clapped her hands, startling Fitz who had been working intently on a laptop that had been brought in with hardware issues. He usually handled those while Daisy took care of viruses and software issues.

“Oh, okay.”

“If you could be anywhere else right now where would you want to be?” Daisy asked.

Fitz shrugged. His stomach felt a bit empty so the campus dining hall held a lot of appeal. “Uh, a proper dinner sounds good.”

Oh that look. She gave him the same look he got from Hunter. “Okay no, that’s not really how the game works.”

“What? I answered the question!”

“You could be anywhere in the world with anyone, no concern for money or any other limitations.” Daisy explained.

“Oh sorry, I-I don’t know, I’d have to think about it, you could go first.” Fitz offered. He was still a bit unclear on the rules of this game.

“Well if I could be anywhere else right now, I would be at a bar overlooking a tropical ocean, sipping on a fruity cocktail while the hot guy at the other end of the bar makes eyes at me and makes sure the fruity cocktail is replaced by another one and another one and another one.” Daisy answered with a sort of far off look in her eyes.

“That that does sound better than here, well not for me but for you.”

Daisy stifled her laughter. “Alright Fitz, you’re turn.”

Fitz hesitated. “I really don’t know.”

“Come on, I answered.”

Fitz felt a bit like he was in the middle of some game of truth or dare taking place in a high school movie. “Well, still dinner I think, at this restaurant just down the street from my mom’s house, it’s really expensive but really good, she took me there once.”

“That’s sweet, you miss your mom.”

“Oh, no I’m mean yes I miss her but I actually didn’t mean I’d be there with her.” Fitz explained.

Daisy gave him a sneaky smile. “So who is with you.”

“I’d like to take Jemma there some time, I think she’d like the atmosphere, its quiet and romantic and the food is incredible.”

“Dress code?”

“Jacket and tie is preferred, Jemma could wear a dress, she wears her hair half up sometimes and it looks quite nice like that.” He shook his head, recovering from the daze he had fallen into. “Sorry, that started to get kind of personal.”

“No I think it was nice.”

Fitz smiled sheepishly.

* * *

 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you work so many days in a row.” Daisy commented as Fitz once again dropped into his seat. Even he couldn’t remember the last time he’d worked so many days in a row but he really had to earn back the money he’d spent on those plane tickets.

“I could say the same to you.”

“Paying off school books.” She replied. Fitz laughed. That’s why he’d gotten the job in the first place. Text books were such a rip off. “How about you?”

“Tickets.”

“Oh, you taking Jemma somewhere fun?”

“I wish.” He muttered.

“Sorry, I just assumed when you said tickets.”

“It’s okay, I wish I was spending the money on con tickets but I don’t think it’ll pan out.”

“Would you have taken Jemma to that?” Fitz raised a curious eyebrow at the girl. She openly asked about Jemma a lot and he certainly didn’t mind talking about her but it was odd behavior. Maybe he’d ask Hunter about it.

“Yeah, I think she’d really like it.” Fitz answered.

“Well maybe you’ll still get to go.” Daisy replied with a hint of mischief in her voice. 

* * *

 

“Do you think it’s weird that the girl I work with keeps asking me questions about Jemma?” Hunter looked up from the TV screen, leaving Mack to hit the pause button or risk their characters’ assassinations.

“Depends, what kind of questions?”

“Just questions, do I spend a lot of time with her, do I think she’s pretty, do we have plans for this weekend.”

“Maybe she’s just making conversation, I’ve worked in tech services, it’s as dull a place as they come.” Mack answered reasonable.

“Or maybe she’s into you and is fishing around to see how serious you are over Jemma.” Hunter said and Fitz rolled his eyes.

“Oh yeah I’m sure that’s it, I’ve got two hot girls who are into me, because that happens all the time.” Fitz scoffed.

“It could man, girls love unavailable guys, especially one who gush over their girls because they want that too.”

“I seriously don’t think that’s it, I’m pretty sure she’s into future doctor slash underwear model that’s constantly dropping by with no tech supports needs.”

“Sounds like tough competition.” Mack interrupted. “I think she’s just being nice man, don’t read into it.”

“Fine don’t read into but use it.” Fitz was hesitant to even ask. Especially since it looked like someone had flipped on the little light bulb above his head. Unfortunately, Mack asked for him and the look on his face made it obvious he regretted it.

“I’m saying what better way to prove how into you Jemma is than letting her know some other girl is kind of into- you.”

“But she’s not.”

“But Jemma doesn’t know that, to her this Daisy is just the mysterious coworker that you’ve spent every night this week with.”

Fitz stared back at him appalled. “I don’t want Jemma to think I’m cheating on her, I don’t want to imply it, I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize it.”

“Mate I think you forgot that the point of this bet was to make her fall in love with you, not the other way around.”

“Whatever, I’m not turning Daisy into some mystery woman just to make Jemma jealous.”

Hunter pouted. “Okay, what if you could test her jealousy without it coming back to bite you.”

“What?”

“What if we could make Jemma jealous but in a way that she wouldn’t be able to hold it against you.”

Mack frowned. “What are you getting at?”

“You and Jemma were going to go to the campus bar tomorrow right.”

He nodded. They had made the plans when Fitz couldn’t escape work the other night. “Yeah, it’s been a long week for both of us, seemed like a good idea.”

“Great, so we’ll get some girl to just waltz up a hit on you in front of Jemma, you don’t have to do anything, just wait for Jemma to react.”

Fitz shook his head. “I don’t know-“ Too many variables could go wrong. What if Jemma found out it was a set up? What if he screwed it up and upset her? What if they couldn’t find anyone willing to flirt with him and he sat there in a state of anxiety all night and ruined her evening?

“OH! And then we can make sure it’s a two-way street and send some bloke to hit on her and make sure she maintains her interest in you.”

Alright that was definitely a bad idea.

“I don’t think this is such a good idea.” Mack said but his words didn’t emphasize the point as much as Fitz would have liked.

“I think this is a terrible idea!”

“Look I need proof that this girl is head over heels for you and I’m going to get it.” With that Hunter hopped off the couch, threw his controller into Fitz hands and hurried off, pulling his phone from his pocket as he went.

“What is he going to do?” Fitz asked as he collapsed on to the couch next to Mack.

“I don’t know Turbo but you can bet I’m glad it’s not happening to me.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took a couple of days off there but here is the next chapter. Enjoy.

Jemma sat anxiously at the bar as she waited for Fitz to arrive. Their plan was a good one. She and Daisy had worked through all the details and not a single thing could go wrong. She simply wanted to trigger Fitz’s hero side. If he showed a protectiveness of her that would be a huge step in their relationship and a bit of jealousy was an important factor for her assignment.

Daisy had suggested an over eager suiter, though she had used the term _‘repulsive sleaze bag who wouldn’t take no for answer’_. Jemma was immediately put off by the idea. How would they get one anyways? Not that there was any shortage of them in the world or that Jemma hadn’t been encroached on by them before.

But they couldn’t guarantee that one would that night.

So Jemma had suggested they get a pretend one. Daisy enthusiastically agreed and recommended Joey’s boyfriend, a theater major, for the part

He would approach and make an ass out of himself. Fitz would either step in or he wouldn’t but Jemma was fairly certain he would. The guy would back off. And once she had her proof the two of them could enjoy their drinks and maybe take a walk through Carter Memorial Park.

“Hey.” Jemma felt a tap on her shoulder. Even if she couldn’t hear him in the din of the bar, she knew that tap. Just to let her know he had arrived without startling her too much when he plopped down in the seat next to hers at the library. She turned on her stool, Fitz was close enough that all she had to do was lean forward an inch or two to smack a kiss on his lips. An action that put a smile on his tired face.

“Hey, you look exhausted.”

“M’ fine.” He said with a yawn. He mumbled out a drink order for the bartender and turned his attention back to her. “Spent the past few hours typing up the report that goes along with the Drones, it’s draining.”

“Oh is that all?”

Fitz rolled his eyes. “Coming from the only student who has trouble staying under the maximum word count.” Jemma bumped his shoulder in protest but chose to ignore the comment.

“Email it to me, I’ll see what can be stretched and elaborated on.”

Fitz looked at her like someone had stuck a halo on her head and wings on her back, or a sandwich in her hands. “You are the best.”

“Well that’s nice to hear every once and a while.”

“You get me to the minimum word count and I will tell you that every day for the rest of our lives.”

The sincerity in his tone made her stomach flip. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

A little more light appeared in Fitz’s eyes. “Have you gotten a drink yet?”

“Was just waiting for you.”

When the Bartender returned with Fitz’s drink she ordered one for herself. She launched into a list of points Fitz could address about the drones wishing she had a pen on her so she could make notes but when she asked Fitz for his he out right refused to give it to her. “It’s Saturday night Jemma, you have got to take a break from school work.”

“Fine.”

“Excuse me?” Jemma’s attention was drawn to a pretty Latina girl who had tapped Fitz on his arm. “You are Leopold Fitz?” She asked.

“Um, yes.”

“My name is Elena, a friend wanted to introduce us, he hasn’t had the opportunity so when I heard her say your name I came over to introduce myself.”

Jemma watched Fitz nod slowly but the confusion stayed etched on his face. “Which-um-which friend would that be?”

“That’s not important right now, I’m so glad to finally meet you, I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Well actually,” Jemma started to explain now wasn’t a good time but the girl, Elena she had said, had stepped up close to Fitz and was solely focused on him.

“You are much more handsome then I thought you would be, from what they told me I mean.” Her hand tugged at her hair and Jemma frowned. That was a flirting. Why would she come up and flirt with someone whose girlfriend was sitting right there?

“Oh, that’s uh, I would say that’s up for debate.” Fitz replied.

“There is nothing to debate Fitz, you’re very handsome.” Jemma said as she leaned past him with her hand extended. “Jemma Simmons, I’m Fitz’s girlfriend.”

“Ah,” Elena’s eyes grew slightly in size but she didn’t seem all that surprised or deterred. “I guess I’m too late then, that’s too bad.” She stepped back. “I’ll be sure to have our friend keep me updated though, maybe now just wasn’t the time.” With a smile and a wink she turned and walked away, her long dark hair swishing behind her.

“That was a bit strange.”

After having been silent through nearly the entire exchange, Fitz turned to her with a frown, “you don’t think random girls walking up and hitting on me is a common occurrence.”

“Oh no, I didn’t mean to imply anything like that, I’m sure pretty girls like her are always putting themselves out there for you.”

Fitz laughed under his breath, shaking his head and Jemma realized he was joking. “Jemma relax, it’s never happened, ever.”

Jemma released her own laugh and hoped the reddening of her cheeks wasn’t obvious. “Not even once?”

“Maybe just once, but only if you count.”   

* * *

 

“Hey.” Jemma turned on her stool, away from her engrossing conversation with Fitz to come face to face with a reasonably attractive man. Her immediate thought was that he didn’t look like Joey’s type; His demeanor was arrogant and confident and on her first once over she couldn’t see why he had reason to be. Daisy had said he was an actor, perhaps he was just playing up the role of douche bag.

“Hi.” Jemma replied pleasantly. She wished she had time to prepare the exchange beforehand rather than improvising on the spot. “Can I help you?”

He smiled slimily back at her. “I’m here to help you, you looked in need of better company.”

“Well that’s very thoughtful of you but I’m quite happy with my chose of companion.” She started to turn back to Fitz who had a frown set on his face. Jemma fidgeted. She preferred making him smile. At least this test would be over quickly. 

“Come on, let me buy you a drink.” The man’s hand fell on her arm. She promptly shrugged it off.

“No thank you.”

He moved closer and the scrape of Fitz’s stool sliding behind her had her hurriedly reaching for his hand. “Really? This guy? You could do so much better than this guy.”

“She said to leave her alone.” Cross but not exactly valiant.

“Hey buddy you don’t speak for her.”

“Well you didn’t listen when I spoke for myself.” Jemma pointed out. Then the man’s hand was back on her arm tighter this time.

“You won’t even give me a chance?” She wrenched her arm free. Fitz’s hand slipped out of her grasp as he stepped in front of her.

“Sounds like she won’t.”

“Excuse me.” A tap on her shoulder drew her attention from the confrontation unfolding before her. A tipsy man looked down at her with glazed eyes. “Could I buy you a drink, beautiful?”

Jemma frowned in confusion. “Wait—are you?” He didn’t seem anymore Joey’s type then the other fellow.

“Hey man, what they hell, can’t you see I’m talkin’ to her.” The first man pushed Fitz aside to confront the newcomer.

“Oi, you moron she’s not interested.” Fitz said raising his voice. Jemma was stuck. She’d been backed up into the bar, blocked on all sides by stools and unfairly tall and disgruntled men. She’d be more disconcerted if Fitz wasn’t so insistently putting himself between her and the others.

“Yeah well she’ll change her mind.”

“Look babe, I’m just tryin’ to buy you a drink.” He tipsy one sounded desperate like he was just trying to get it done and over with.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll get her one.”

He shook his head violently. “No I gotta do it if I want my money.” Jemma’s eyes narrowed at the man. Daisy didn’t mention having to pay anyone. It was possible this man was just a confused drunk. Fitz’s glare redirected to whomever the man was.

“Get lost.” Fitz shouted and the other bar patrons turned at the commotion. “And you get lost too.”

“Look man I’m just about sick of you.”

“I’m not leaving until I get her a drink.” The man raised a fist, swung at the nameless douche who dodged, putting Fitz directly in the line of fire. Jemma gasped as the man’s fist collided with Fitz’s jaw. Douche, sick of the drunk shoved the man roughly backwards until he knocked into a table. Before Jemma had a chance to properly check on Fitz who was doubled over grasping his face the douche had turned back on them, pulled Fitz forward by the lapel of his blazer and took swing at him. Fitz dunked and plowed into the man’s middle, sending them both crashing to the floor.

“Leave him alone!” The bar was closing in on them. Jemma saw the man behind the counter pick up the phone. He was either calling the cops or campus security and her only thought was to get Fitz out of there before either showed up.

The man pinned Fitz to the floor getting in only one good punch before the drunk tackled him off of Fitz and into the bar stools.

“Fitz, Fitz get up we gotta go.” Jemma looked down at his dazed and quickly purpling face. “Oh Fitz.”

Campus security was there in less than a minute. Jemma was still trying to help Fitz off the floor while the other two men tussled. They immediately went for those still fighting.

“Can we go sir, those men, they just wouldn’t leave me alone and when my boyfriend asked them to leave they punched him, completely barbaric.” Jemma poured on the helpless damsel voice act heavier than she cared to but she didn’t want Fitz in any sort of trouble for what turned out to be her horrendously bad idea.

“You and your boyfriend can go ma’am, so long as you’re not interested in pressing charges.”

Jemma propped Fitz up, helping him best she could to his feet.

“Come on Fitz, let’s get you home.”

“You okay?”

“I’m fine you idiot, you’re the one who might have a concussion or a broken nose or a black eye.” Jemma got him out of the bar, the air was cooler than she expected. “Your apartment’s closer than mine, are you okay to walk, should I get a cab?”

He shook his head. The chill seemed to bring his sense momentarily back to him. “I can walk, are you sure you’re okay?”

“Fitz I’m completely fine, thanks to you, that guy wasn’t taken no for an answer.” Boy did she feel terrible. “You were my hero.”

They stumbled along for a while in silence until Fitz asked if they could stop just for a minute. He very well could have had a concussion she should just flag down a cab and take him straight to the hospital. Jemma felt her phone buzz in her back pocket. She quickly reached for it. Daisy had texted her an urgent CALL ME!

“I’ll be right back okay.” Fitz waved her off. Nodding and speaking apparently only available to questions her well-being. Jemma moved a good distance away but still kept him in sight before hitting dial. Daisy picked up on the first ring.

“Jemma hey, we’re going to have-“

“Daisy what the hell is going on!”

“What are you talking about, I haven’t even said anything yet?”

“I just had to drag poor Fitz out of the bar after whoever it was you sent to hit on me got into a fight with him, a physical fight Daisy, that was absolutely not in our plans!” Jemma knew she was panicked, probably borderline hysterical but she didn’t know what was going on.

“Jemma I didn’t send anyone to hit on you, that’s why I’m calling you, Joey’s boyfriend couldn’t make it, he got called in when a lead couldn’t make his performance, I just found out a few minutes ago.” Jemma froze. If the guy in the bar wasn’t sent by Daisy and the other guy in the bar wasn’t sent by Daisy, where were they all coming from? “Wait you got into a bar brawl?!”

“I can’t believe you didn’t send one of them!” Jemma ran the odds in her head that two random guys would just waltz up to her and not even be a little swayed by her having a boyfriend. Was the world full of that many creeps. “I’ve got to go Daisy, I need to make sure Fitz is okay.”

“Are you?! Are you at least okay?”

“I’m fine, why is everyone so focused on my well-being when Fitz is the one with-nevermind, I’ll tell you all about it later.” Jemma hung up the phone and rushed back down the sidewalk to Fitz. He was sitting back against the bench, his head tilted back and the moonlight highlighted the swelling bruises to the left side of his face. “How are you feeling?”

“Dizziness has gone away, mostly.” He said. He opened his eyes and turned his head towards her. Now that he could focus it seemed he wanted to see for himself that she was completely fine. Jemma lifted her hand to his cheek to prod it gently and he cringed.

“I should have gotten you ice back at the bar, I’ll go back and get some.” Before she could fully retract her hand Fitz’s fell softly on top of it. “I don’t want you to go back there and besides we’ve got ice at home, we’re nearly there.” He stood with his mind made up. Jemma appeased him even though they were still closer to the bar.

His apartment was empty when they arrived. His roommates must have been out for the evening. Fitz fell directly on to the couch and Jemma went to the freezer. “You do not have ice!” She shouted. She fished around for an acceptable alternative to an ice pack. The best she could find was a frozen bag of peas. Hurriedly wrapping it in a towel she caught up with him in the living room, half way to dozing off.

“Fitz you can’t sleep, what if you’ve got a concussion.” She squeezed her way on to the narrow strip of cushion left for her and hovered over his face. She tried to determine the worst of his bruises to angle the vegetables just right. His poor face. Jemma had half a mind to go back to that bar and press charges.

“Jemma, I think the ice has to make contact to help.” Jemma snapped out of her daze and lowered the bag to his left eye. At least he seemed to be in a positive mood.

“It’s not ice, you lied you didn’t have any ice.” She tried to mimic his tone.

“You’re right, you caught me, I was just trying to lure you back to my apartment.”

They sat like that for a few minutes, Jemma trying hard not to smile. Fitz’s arm snaked around her waist to keep her sliding off the couch, his thumb stroked gently at the narrow bit of skin exposed where her top had ridden up. She leaned over him, removing the peas for a closer look at his eye. “Oh Fitz it looks just awful, I’m so sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, s’my fault really, I was the one who got into it with them.” He shifted uncomfortably beneath her. His hand tightened at her waist.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing, I just may have bruised my side too and your leaning directly into it.”

Jemma leaped off the couch. “Why didn’t you say anything?!” She demanded. She knelt down on the floor beside the couch and tugged at his shirt until it came loose from his pants. Sure enough matching purple bruises littered his pale sides and belly.

“You need more vegetables, I think I saw some broccoli or corn in there too.” She jumped to her feet prepared to turn him into an entire vegetable platter is necessary when his hand grabbed hers and tugged her back on to the couch. She was careful to avoid his middle but he was making it very difficult. “I’ll feel better if you just stay put.”

She could feel the worry lines in her forehead ease at his words. She gently ran her hands over the bruises; they weren’t as bad as the ones on his face. He shivered under her fingers. Jemma looked up to see him watching her intently.

“Your hands are freezing, don’t even need the bloody ice.” His casual tone was betrayed by the deep red of his cheeks or cheek really.

“Sorry.” She murmured. She didn’t retract her hands though. She was curious to see if she could cause more shivers if she slid her hands to his other side. Her hands glided across his abdomen, her fingers dancing around the dip of his belly button and through the bit of hair there. Sure enough another tremor went through him. She leaned down over him, her weight braced on the couch. “You’re sure you feel okay.”

“I feel fantastic.” Jemma grinned and lowered herself the rest of the way to his lips. Fitz’s hand dropped hers so that he could instead rest it at the back of her head, his other one coming up to the small of her back as he pulled her down. She resisted the urge to collapse completely on to him, surely that wouldn’t be good for the bruises, but if he was going to be so damn insistent about it. She dropped down slowly until they were pressed together from the waist up. Fitz moaned against her mouth and she determined quickly that pain wasn’t the motivator.

Forgetting briefly that he was damaged Jemma clasped his face with her hands, better angling her lips over his. He gasped.

She pulled away quickly. “Sorry.”

He just pulled her back. Sealing their mouths back together insistently. “Wait!” Jemma stopped them again.

“What?”

“Just shift on to your side there, your good side, and I’ll just-“ She crawled over him so she was securely between him and the back of the couch. “Now all your weight is on your good side and-“

“And my bruised face is protected from your grabby hands.”

“Exactly-but don’t get cocky, my grabby hands still have plenty to explore.” Her one arm was effectively pinned between them but her free one went right for him bum, giving it a squeeze and sending a shudder through him. She dipped her head into the crook of his neck, planting long slow kisses along it until she worked her way back to his mouth, nibbling lightly on his lower lip. Fitz’s hand trailed up and down her side restlessly, indecisively, occasionally brushing the skin underneath her shirt but never more than what was already exposed where the cotton bunched up. It wouldn’t do. She moaned into his mouth at his hand’s next past making it explicitly clear that not only was that allowed but very much welcome. His hands were warm and rough, she knew this already from past experience but against the soft skin of her side and belly and just a little higher maybe, with some farther encouragement, well that was an entirely different sensation.

She was feeling quite a few new sensations with him right then. Well old sensations, with someone new. But the heat pooling inside her seemed to be coupled with more want, more sincerity, more…fondness… than usual.

His lips moved from hers to the sensitive skin behind her ear at the same moment his hand slid higher brushing just under the wire of her bra. If she just shifted…she arched her back, her chest pressed so firmly into his he couldn’t not get the message. His hand cupped over her breast, his lips had trailed down to her collar bone and all she could hear was his heavy breathing and her tiny gasps.

“Jemma.” Her named rumbled through his chest, she could feel it through her fingers and she hummed back in response.

“Jemma.” He was vocal. That was an interesting bit of information.

“Jemma.” Wait that had been his normal voice. No, worse that had been his hesitant voice.

Her eyes jumped to his. His eyes were wide with lust but also concern. Then it hit her. She didn’t want to stop but they had agreed to go slow. And then she remembered her reasons for happily agreeing to go slow.

“Are we- do we need to stop?”

Oh boy, she really didn’t want to stop which was exactly why they needed to. This was the supposed to be the part where she made sure they weren’t strictly falling into an infatuated love. The word separation had been growing ever closer on her list of tests she needed to run. To evaluate the effects it had. It was inevitable that she would get there at some point. Unless of course they had broken up before then but that hadn’t happened.

“I-I guess we should.” She pushed herself up accidently using his injured side for leverage and he cringed. It made it only slightly easier to pull away knowing he was injured. “Sorry-probably not the best time to do this anyways.”

“S’ okay.” He pushed himself up to lean back against the arm of the sofa. “I’m sorry too by the way, that sort of came out of nowhere.”

“It’s okay Fitz, it’s not like I asked you to stop.” Jemma said comfortingly.

“Do you want to uh, watch a movie or something, it’s still kind of early and we never did eat.” He reached for his cell phone, probably prepared to search for takeout options.

He was adding an extra bit of enthusiasm to his statement, trying to prove he was okay with stopping their previous activities. His eyes keep flickering to various points on her body and then quickly away. It was sweet and it made it very hard to say what she had to next. “Actually Fitz, I think I should get going.”

His eyes darted to hers.

“I just, I have a seminar tomorrow afternoon, across town, near the city library.” She explained. “I was going to just leave first thing and study right up until then.” She wasn’t lying to him. Although she had originally wanted to invite him. “Maybe head back after and just make a day of it.”

“Oh.”

“I didn’t think you’d enjoy the seminar very much, being biology focused and all,” but the park was right across the street, he could have tested the drones.

“Right, probably wouldn’t.”

“And you should rest tomorrow anyways, you’ll have a terrible headache I think.” She reached up to trace her thumb under his eye. The black and purple emphasized the uncertainty in the blue orbs staring back at her. “Promise you’ll rest?”

“Promise.”

Jemma stood to leave. Fitz followed her to the door.

“Do you have plans for Sunday?”

“I don’t know, I might have plans with my roommate, we haven’t spent much time together lately.”

“Okay.” The disappointment rung in her ears. “Jemma I didn’t, I didn’t do something wrong did I?”

“No Fitz! Oh not at all.” She leaned in to kiss him. “I promise, I’m just busy is all, last semester of school and everything, it was bound to catch up.”

“Right.”

“I’ll call you as soon as I’m free.”

He smiled. “Okay, I’ll await your call.”

“Good night Fitz.”

“Good night Jemma.”

She stepped over the threshold, the door closed quietly behind her. Jemma released a heavy sigh. All she wanted to do was turn around and walk right back through the door and curl up with Fitz on the couch or in his bed or anywhere she didn’t care.

Instead she walked home.

* * *

 

The door was unlocked. Daisy must have called it an early night. She entered without bothering to turn on a light, she planned to make a beeline for her room. All she wanted to do now was get some sleep.

“Jemma, is that you?” The hall light clicked on and Daisy appeared, shortly followed by Lincoln.

“Yeah it’s me, hi Lincoln.”

“Hi Jemma.” His cheeks were noticeable red, even in the dim light.

“Lincoln and I were just watching a movie, are you alright, I expected you to stay out later with Fitz, but then that call earlier.” Daisy hurried forward. “You are okay, right?”

“I’m fine, Fitz is going to be fine, I’m just a bit tired, think I’m going to go straight to bed,” she looked between Daisy and Lincoln. “You guys enjoy the movie.”

She skirted past Daisy. Lincoln wished her goodnight. She could hear mumbles from the two through her closed bedroom door as she changed into her pajamas. She was rather happy for them. It was so obvious they had a thing for each other, Jemma genuinely hoped they were up to the same kind of fun she and Fitz had started.

Oh she had told herself not to think about Fitz. She crawled into bed, pulled her covers tight and a spare pillow into her arms. A minute later Daisy entered her room.

“Hey Jemma?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean?”

Daisy sat down near the top of the bed. “Come on Jem, you’ve been looking forward to spending tonight with Fitz all week, now your home early instead of fawning all over him.”

“I don’t fawn.”

“The last time I got sick you monitored me like I was a prisoner, he was apparently beaten up on your behalf, I didn’t even expect you home.” Well Lincoln’s presence had been proof of that.

“Fitz is perfectly capable of taking care of himself and he needs rest.”

“Jemma.”

Jemma stayed quiet. She supposed it wouldn’t hurt to tell Daisy. She already knew everything else. “Things got to be a little more heated tonight then they have in the past, I didn’t want to stop.”

“But you did?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?” Jemma frowned. Daisy was the one who told her not to sleep with him. “I know, I know, I said not to rush into but you guys are really into each other, seriously, perfect for each other.”

Jemma sat up. “I shouldn’t be this committed at this point.” Jemma explained. “I was supposed to run a test on the effects of separation, before I became too invested, I just kept putting it off.” Not now, Fitz needs your help with the drones. Not now there the book signing they wanted to go too. Not now they’re in the middle of the Doctor Who re-watch.

“You could still run your test, you have plenty of time before the assignment is due.”

Yeah she could. Assuming she could stay away from him.

“I’ll help.” Daisy said seeing her obvious distress.

“I’d appreciate that, are you free Sunday?”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was so difficult to write and it got kind of long. I think I got everything tied together neatly by the end of it. Hopefully.

The First day was excruciatingly hard. Probably because she had become very accustom to having Fitz there as she studied and worked. A person to bounce ideas off of when she was stuck. A person to explore tangents with. A person to hide in the bookshelves with when they needed a break. And the public library had nearly twice as many unused sections as the school library; it was such a waste.

She’d picked up her phone at least ten times and had a message to him half typed out before she stopped herself. She only quelled her urge by shoving her phone into the bottom of her bag. An act that made her late for the seminar.

The second day was easier. Daisy made plans for the entire day, she barely had the chance to think about anything as Daisy arranged for them to go running together, then straight to her favorite bakery. To the mall to pick up out dresses for graduation. Jemma didn’t see anything she was crazy about but Daisy had her try on about a hundred options anyways and they discussed post-graduation plans.

The following days were frustrating. Long and repetitive and the separation did not get any easier. Numerous times she’d read over the paper that he had emailed her to review just so that she could feel a bit like she was talking to him. She didn’t immediately send it back, wanting to keep up the illusion that she was busy but after a while she felt bad about keeping it from him. He still needed time to work on it. She sent it back with edits and a brief message. He texted her moments later to ask if she had time to get dinner and she forced herself to decline.

It was more difficult than she expected to keep up the charade. It just occurred to her how often they crossed paths during the day. Keeping out of sight had unfortunately meant diving behind a few trees, book shelves and one time into a group of innocent bystanders to try and blend in so he didn’t see her.

Two weeks. She had set a time line of two weeks for their separation. It seemed like an adequate length of time to truly experience it. Two weeks, fourteen days, was the amount of time needed to make or break a routine. If the two weeks passed and the desire to see him lessened than she would know that it wasn’t a committed love, at least not yet. If her desire to jump him lessened than she wasn’t in the romantic love stage anymore.

“Subject B has expressed disappointment when unable to spend time with subject A and has gone out of his way to create contact. Meanwhile subject A is more frustrated and less productive than usual.” Jemma released the button and looked over at Daisy. “This might not be so awful if I was at least getting some work done.”

“Technically this is an assignment so you are doing work.” She reasoned.

Jemma was thankful for the reminder. She had forgotten quite a few times over the last few days.

* * *

 

Fitz was going crazy. Jemma told him he hadn’t done anything wrong yet he hadn’t seen her since that night, hadn’t even heard from her properly. Hunter said he was just being paranoid, that she just happened to be really busy right after they happened to stop in the middle of their activities. It was just a coincidence.

Of course Fitz wasn’t speaking to Hunter for the time being. He had convinced himself it was Hunter’s fault. He had only followed the man’s advice and look where it had gotten him. He had texted his roommate when Jemma had stepped away to make a call and left him, head ringing, on a bench between the bar and his apartment.

_What is going on, I just had the shit beat out of me by the guys you sent to hit on Jemma._

**_What guys? I sent some scrawny bloke, said I pay him a couple of bucks to buy her a drink and then walk away._ **

**_Are you okay?!_ **

_NO! But I’ll live, Jemma’s taking me back to the apartment_

**_That’s perfect, play it up_ **

_What_

Jemma had made her way back to him at that point so he didn’t know exactly what Hunter had been thinking until they were back home and Jemma went to fetch ice for him.

**_Play it up, no doubt you’ve come off more concerned about her then yourself but let her take care of you, she probably blames herself and is going to want to make it up to you, if you know what I mean._ **

Fitz understood perfectly but he didn’t believe it. He would have written off the message all together but then Jemma was lazily running her fingers around the bruises on his stomach and inching ever closer and then they were pressed firmly together, her warm skin under his hands and pleasant noises gracing his ears.

And then she was leaving. And he could try to blame Hunter but Hunter didn’t take it too far when they had agreed not to.

He wanted so badly to believe she was simply busy. It should have been easy to believe what with the end of the semester quickly approaching. The work that needed to be completed. The impending graduation. Practicing her speech for the impending graduation. Job hunting for the inevitable post-graduation adulthood responsibilities.

But if she was just busy why did she continue to pop up all over campus looking almost leisurely?

Reading a book at the coffee shop. Chatting with friends in the central courtyard. Her name even came up as a student tutor for the university’s peer study program.

“You’re worrying for nothing.” Hunter said, catching him off guard. Fitz responded instinctively, forgetting his pact to ignore the man.

“You should be more worried.” He said as he checked his phone for the third time that hour. “I did exactly what you told me to do, used the situation to my advantage and suddenly she’s gone, doesn’t exactly bode well for your side of the bet.” Hunter wasn’t bothered.

“Look mate, this happens with Bobbi all the time, you get too close and she needs space, poor girl is probably just no good with emotions, give her some time.”

“but-“

“What you want proof?” Hunter took the cell phone out of Fitz’s hands. “Turn it around on her, when she does ask to hang out tell her your busy.” He tossed the phone aside and left the room.

Fitz hated that idea. If Jemma wanted to see him he wanted to drop everything and see her. Besides he didn’t have to turn it around on her. When she did text him a list of times when she was free the times overlapped nearly perfectly with his work schedule, like she somehow knew when he’d be working. And the night he asked Daisy to cover his shift so he would be available she suddenly couldn’t make it.

When he asked about the next night Daisy was unfortunately already scheduled to work.

“Shit!” Fitz shoved aside the laptop that had set off a few sparks. He didn’t usually make careless mistakes like that but his concentration was completely shot.

“Hey are you okay?”

He looked over at Daisy whose eyes had gone wide at the sight of the sparks.

“I’m fine, wasn’t paying attention.”

“Anything on your mind?” She asked casually. Fitz started to shake his head but hesitated. Daisy was a girl, perhaps she could give him some insight to what he had done wrong with Jemma.

“Maybe, I think I messed up with Jemma.”

Daisy turned her full attention on him, “Oh? What makes you think that?”

“She’s been avoiding me, I-well she said I haven’t done anything wrong, that she’s just busy, but she got really busy right after-well right after I think I did something wrong.” He really didn’t want to go into detail. Especially not knowing how Daisy would take it. He did have to work with her frequently.

“I’m going to need a little bit more information.”

Oh god, how did he phrase this. “I think I pushed her to move things along too soon.”

He didn’t really want to look at her for a reaction but he peeked just from the corner of his eye. She was smiling back at him. “I somehow doubt that Fitz.”

He rushed to add more evidence, “and I got into a fight, kind of defending her, I don’t want her to think that I think she can’t take care of herself, she’s very independent.”

“Fitz I don’t think that warrants a break up.”

“I hope not, I just don’t know, I’ve seen her around campus and she doesn’t look busy but I don’t want to accuse her of anything.” He didn’t want to be whiny or clingy or needy, he just wanted to know for sure that he hadn’t done anything wrong. Suddenly the weight of Daisy’s hand was on his shoulder.

“I think everything is going to be okay Fitz, honestly it sounds like Jemma just panicked a little, she felt too much for you too quickly and it scared her, she just needs time to adjust.”

“Yeah?”

“I guarantee it.” 

* * *

 

Jemma heard the door open and close from the kitchen. She’d just finished making dinner, a complicated dish she attempted just to kill time. So far that night she’d recited her valedictorian speech trice over, reorganized her bookshelf by publish date, proof read her final thesis and cleaned the bathroom. She had tried to find friends to hang out with but everyone was so busy with the end of the year approaching and knowing spring break was just around the corner they were cramming to get as much done as possible.

So Herb-Crusted Halibut and Wild Rice Pilaf was the answer.

“Daisy! Dinner is almost ready and I don’t want to see you making any faces until you’ve tried it.”

“Smells good.” She entered the kitchen and came to hover over the stove. “Do you need any help?”

“Oh no, it’s nearly done, you can go relax, I’m sure work was exhausting.”

“Jemma I sit at a desk, in an air-conditioned building working on computers it’s not exactly hard manual labor.” She hopped up to sit on the counter. Jemma shot her a curious look. Daisy always complained about how tiring her job could be. The fact that she was willing sitting in the hot kitchen rather than sprawled across the couch led her to believe something must have been up.

“You have a good day?”

Daisy shrugged. She had picked up a can from the counter and was reading the ingredients off the back.

“Anything you want to tell me?”

She only shrugged again. There was definitely something going on.

“Daisy I can tell you have something on your mind, what is it?”

“I worked with Fitz today.”

“Oh.” Jemma tried not to think about the little twinge of jealousy. They probably didn’t even speak, just sit in the same general area. Still she was envious. “That’s all?”

“He seemed kind of depressed.” Jemma looked up at her uncertain on how she was supposed to react. There was obviously concern but it sounded like Daisy was still holding back information.

“Is he okay?”

Finally, Daisy’s shoulders dropped. “Look, I know what you’re doing is for your project and you have this all planned out, but Fitz, he thinks he’s done something wrong.”

Jemma sighed. “I told him very plainly that he hadn’t done anything wrong, that I was just busy.”

“I know, but he’s seen you around campus and your schedule is conflicting with his, even when he tried to accommodate yours, and right after he thinks he forced you into going farther than you wanted too.”

Jemma groaned as Daisy continued to ramble. She had insisted to him that that was not the case. Why was he so hard headed? She was the one always moving them along was she not? At the very least it should have been considered mutual. She should have never ruled out sex during the assignment, it was causing more trouble not doing it than it ever would have if they had.

“Simmons, are you listening?”

“Yeah sorry, so what do I do.”

Daisy face deadpanned. “I’m going to take that question to mean you weren’t listening at all, I said you have to call off this separation thing, I know it’s a few days ahead of schedule or whatever but for his sanity you need to do it or break up with him.”

“It’s that bad?”

“It’s worse.” Daisy insisted. “He’s unfocused and given the fact that he spends his time working with tools and electrical wiring I think it might be a risk to his safety.”

Jemma’s eyes widened with worry. “Okay, I’ll-I’ll do something, I’ll fix it, I don’t want him to get hurt.” She knew the separation would have an effect on him to but she had become focused more so on her own reactions; even using the lab to run tests on herself, brain scans, blood tests. She never even asked Daisy to observe Fitz for a reaction. Now she felt terrible. “I’ll fix it.” 

* * *

 

Fitz removed the ringing phone from his back pocket preparing to press ignore and resume the game when the name flashing across the top stopped him. She hadn’t called him in nearly two weeks. Except for the rare text message, they’d barely communicated.

“Come on man, were in the middle of a game.” Mack grumbled. Fitz barely processed that he’d said something. Hunter leaned over to look at his phone.

“Answer it, put it on speaker.” Hunter urged.

Fitz slid his finger across the screen and tapped the microphone at the bottom. “Hello.”

“Hi Fitz, it’s Jemma.” Her greeting rang through the room.

“Hi, I uh, saw your name.”

“Right of course, so how are you?” 

“Good-“ Hunter mouthed ‘better’ “Fantastic.” He corrected.

“Oh, well that’s wonderful.” She sounded surprised.

“Yeah, and you?”

“I could be better, I’ve been so busy you know.” Hunter gave an exaggerated eye roll. “But it looks like I’m free tomorrow night, I was wondering if you wanted to get dinner.” His heart skipped at her words. And his elation most have shown because Hunter was suddenly on his feet waving his arms like he was landing a plane. “Hang on Jemma.”  He covered the phone with his hand.

“What?”

“Turn her down.”

“WHAT!”

“Fitz are you okay?” Jemma’s muffled voice asked through the phone.

“Seriously, you can’t just jump back into her arms, it makes you look like a push over and I need to know that she feels as strongly about you, make her wait.”

“Jemma are you still there?”

“Yeah I am! Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I was just asking Hunter to turn down the TV.”

“Oh okay, so what do you think, dinner, tomorrow night, someplace nice?”

Fitz froze, Hunter was staring him down and all he could think about was the disappointment he felt the past week and a half, every time he saw Jemma or tried to make plans with her. It was petty of him and he kind of hated himself but he wanted to make her wait too.

“I can’t make it tomorrow, I’ve got to work.” Hunter jumped up from the couch, silently cheering.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

She was silent for a really long time. “Okay, what about the next day?”

“I-I think I’m off, we can get dinner, wherever you want to go.”

“Alright, I’ll see you then.”

Fitz wished her goodnight to which she responded with a quiet one of her own.

“You did good mate.”

“I feel like an ass.”

* * *

 

As she went about her day on Friday, Jemma’s frustration and boredom had been replaced with a sense of melancholy. Somehow it didn’t occur to her that when she dropped the no contact restriction that Fitz would be unavailable. She had called him at Daisy’s suggestion, eagerness building at the thought of hearing his voice again. At least she would have some useful insight to her paper.

“What are you doing here, I thought you made plans with Fitz?” Daisy tossed her book bag down next to her on the couch.

“He said he had to work.”

Daisy arched an eyebrow at her. “He wasn’t on the schedule for tonight.”

“Well that’s what I thought, I mean you just told me before I called him, I don’t know what to think,” she did know what to think, she knew exactly what to think actually she just didn’t want to. “Is he mad at me?”

Daisy could have out right lied but instead she gave a more honest answer. “Not necessarily, he may have just picked up an extra shift.”

“So suddenly?”

“Maybe he’s just trying to distance himself, in case he thinks you’re mad at him.”

Jemma groaned again, throwing her head back. He wasn’t supposed to think she was mad at him. She just wanted to see if he would lose interest in her or if she would lose interest in him.

“Do you think he’s actually at work?”

“I can find out; Miles was scheduled for tonight, I’ll ask him.”

Jemma waited impatiently while Daisy typed out a message. Miles responded quick. He was always trying to get back into Daisy’s good graces since their break up back in freshman year.

“Miles said Fitz showed up unexpectedly asked if he needed him to cover his shift.”

“Oh no, he is trying to avoid me.”

Jemma had to make it up to him. Maybe she could surprise him at work with a snack or even a whole little dinner. She knew he only ate a quick bite before work so he’d likely be starving. She could put a whole picnic basket together and maybe wear something prettier than her jeans and sweatshirt. With the plan in mind Jemma packed the pair of them a dinner and changed into a dress had worn for one of their dinner dates. He had complimented her more times than usual that night so it was probably a good choice.

She’d never been to the tech services building before. No need with having Daisy as a roommate who could solve most of the issues she encountered without looking away from the TV. It was on the outskirts of the campus and held other minor departments. It didn’t take her long to find the room Fitz was hauled up in, leaning over a student’s laptop with a tiny tool in one hand, the other balancing the computer at an odd angle. He used such care and precision when working, a stark contrast to how he moved otherwise, with more frantic gestures and stuttered movements.

She tapped on the door to call his attention without startling him. “Hi Fitz.”

Watching his eyes widen in response to her presence made a tiny inkling of doubt grow in her stomach. “Jemma? Hi, uh, what are you doing here?”

She revealed the picnic basket from behind her. “Thought you might be hungry and I uh, really wanted to see you.”

“We were both free tomorrow, I thought we were going to meet then?”

“Well yes, and we still can, it’s just been so long since I properly got to see you, nearly two weeks and I just couldn’t wait another day.” He stared back at her and Jemma squirmed. Maybe this hadn’t been her best idea. He hadn’t shown up to bother her when she told him she was busy. He had respected that and let her get on with her work. “I can go, I’m sorry I should have asked, I don’t want to be a bother.”

“Wait!” Fitz had jumped up from his chair like he’d been ejected from it. “Stay, please stay, I was just surprised and you’re right I am hungry and I don’t make any sense when I’m hungry.”

“You’re sure I won’t be in the way?”

“No, never.”

“Alright then.” She approached his desk, the strong smell of the sandwiches she prepared quickly filled the sterile room. “Do I have to stay on this side or am I welcome behind the counter?”

“Technically no, but I guess it’s okay, no one else is here.”

She beamed at him, hoisting the basket onto the high counter before running around the counter to join him. She pulled up the spare stool as close to him as she could. She began to unload the basket, spreading out napkins and setting out glasses for their drinks.

* * *

 

“Wow you really went all out.” He said as she watched her pull a bottle of wine from the basket.

“It’s nothing really.”

Fitz didn’t think so but he didn’t reply. He felt kind of stupid for not doing the same thing when she was busy. Surprising her with a picnic dinner. Of course she was so crazy about her work that probably wouldn’t have gone over well. Assuming she had actually been busy. Wasn’t he supposed to be angry with her? He should be more aloof.

While she prepped everything he returned to his work on the completely fried laptop in front of him. It was a difficult feat with Jemma so close, knocking his elbow at the worst possible times and whispering tiny sorrys for each.

He diligently continued his work anyways. Where was that list of software programs he needed to reinstall?

“Jemma have you seen—“ There it was, nestled under a jar of something green and potent smelling.

Jemma must have followed his line of sight to the paper because then she was reaching for it at the same time as him, knocking over the oily concoction and spilling it over the document.

“OH NO! The aioli.”

“Dammit!” Fitz held up the paper, now stained, dripping and illegible.

“I’m so sorry Fitz.” Fitz squinted at the paper in frustration. He was going to have to do it from memory. “Fitz?”

“It’s okay.”

“Would you like something to drink?” She asked holding out the wine bottle.

“Yeah sure.” Fitz flipped over the laptop again, trying to determine when it was distributed so he could figure out the majority of the programs. Jemma was making a lot of noise next to him.  There was a noise of triumph and then struggling. Fitz glanced at her from the corner of his eye to see her trying to remove the cork from the bottle after having located the cork screw. He considered offering his help but knowing she would refuse it he kept his mouth shut.

A shout, followed by a waterfall of what turned out to be champagne splashing over the laptop had him leaping from his seat. “Shit.” He was going to get fired. The computer was drenched. Jemma had immediately gone for the napkins, tossing several of them on to the damp keyboard.

“I am so sorry Fitz, I didn’t realize it would go off like that, I should have angled it away from your work, do you think there is anyway to fix it, I can help if you need me to-“

“Jemma.”

“Maybe replace the internal bits, you can use the parts from my laptop or if not I’ll pay for a new one-“

“Jemma!”

“Oh I’ve probably destroyed all their personal files, and look they had all these decals on it-“

“SIMMONS!”

Jemma finally stopped rambling. She turned to face him, distress evident in her eyes.

“What is going on?”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“I mean you disappear, basically off the face of the earth for almost two weeks, right after we almost-well right after that, and now suddenly you’re here even though I told you I was busy and had to work, and you’re acting as if nothing is wrong, and I’m just confused Jemma because if you are so damn eager to see me, it seems like you would have made time to do so any number of the times I asked you last week.”

“I was busy.”

“You’ve never not been able to work with me there before, I wouldn’t have bothered you Jemma, I just wanted to be around you.”

“I did too, but I couldn’t make this time.”

“That’s all it was though, you weren’t mad at me.”

“I swear Fitz, it was nothing you did, I was just trying to make it up to you tonight.”

Jemma looked away from him, her wet eyes staring at the meal she had made. He had no proof against what she said. And now she was going out of her way to spend time with him. Preparing complicated sandwiches for them that smelled so good his mouth was beginning to water. There was no reason to believe she wasn’t genuine in her intentions.

“Okay, I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions.”

“So we can put this in the past?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.” She looked away from him again. “I think the sandwiches survived, it you’re hungry.”

“I’m always hungry.”

Fitz snatched up the sandwich, deciding to worry about the destroyed laptop later. “This is delicious, what is it?”

“Prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella with a hint of pesto aioli.”

“Doesn’t sound like the kind of thing you eat when you’re trying to eat healthy.”

“No, it’s definitely not which is why I thought you might like it.” Fitz felt himself grinning at Jemma’s reasoning. She seemed pleased with her sandwich concoction and the fact that he liked it. She stared at him happily until it occurred to him that perhaps she wanted to kiss but was waiting for him to finish his bite or just for him to make the move in case he was still upset. He quickly set aside the sandwich and wiped his mouth clean with the only unused napkin he could find.

Just as he leaned in the tech services door swung open.

“Hey Fitz, I brought you a pizza, I felt bad about keeping you from—oh Jemma, what are you doing here?” Hunter stood in the doorway, looking quite like a pizza delivery guy who just had the door opened to reveal the customer in their underwear or wrapped in a bed sheet. Despite the fact the fact that they were fully dressed, Fitz did feel as though he had been busted for something nefarious.

“Hello Hunter, I’m just visiting Fitz, he told me he was working so I thought I’d bring him some dinner, I guess we thought alike.”

“Yeah I guess we did-Fitz can I talk to you, out here?”

“Can we talk later, Jemma and I have some catching up to do I think.” He didn’t feel like being reprimanded by Hunter right now. He wanted to sit and eat dinner with Jemma and enjoy a little bit of time with her before he had to worry over the destroyed laptop.

“Ok, well you won’t mind if I join you right?” Hunter said, pulling up a stool and plopping the pizza box down on the counter, “I haven’t seen you in a while either, heard you’ve been busy, doing what exactly?”

Fitz wished he could have kicked the man but the counter blocked his access.

“School work mostly, I had this one rather time consuming lab assignment, the samples needed near constant observation, and then they started to do this fascinating accelerated growth so we had to duplicate the test to see if the results were the same and then in my animal biology class we had to dissect this poor cat, she passed away quite suddenly and we were tasked with determining the cause, ended up being something in its liver.”

“Jemma-eating-“

“Oh yes, sorry, not appropriate dinner topic, although Fitz, I didn’t even give a detailed visual description.”

Hunter blinked back at her and Fitz forced down the laugh that threated to escape him.

“Sounds like that would keep you busy.”

“It did, but you know how it is trying to get everything out of the way before the break.”

“Right, spring break, right around the corner.” Fitz watched Hunter suspiciously. “Any plans, are you heading back across the pond?” He asked conversationally.

“Unfortunately no, I was just home for Christmas and my bank account won’t allow me to make the trip twice a year.” Jemma answered. “But my family will be here for graduation and that’s not too far off.”

“Still, I bet you wish you could go -HEY!” Fitz actually jumped in his seat at Hunter’s outburst. “I’ve just realized, Fitz you’ve got an extra ticket.”

“What?”

“Remember you bought my _, non-refundable_ , ticket a while ago and I’ve been meaning to pay you back and just haven’t gotten round to it.” Fitz narrowed his eyes at Hunter, not entirely sure where the man was going with this. “Well it turns out I won’t be able to go.”

“What?! You’re telling me this now?!” Fitz leaped up from his chair.

“An unexpected turn of events,” Hunter told him before turning back to Jemma with a spark in his eye, “but that leaves Fitz with an extra ticket, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind giving it to you.”

Jemma’s own eyes went wide at the thought, a fresh smile crossing her face before it dipped into a frown. “Oh I just couldn’t take it, surely it wasn’t cheap and I don’t know that I could pay you back for it for a very long time.”

“Well Fitz is no bank and otherwise the ticket goes to waste, it is non-refundable.”

That was bullshit and Hunter knew it. “Could I talk to you for a minute, in the hallway.” Without waiting for an answer Fitz rounded the counter, heaved the man off his chair by his arm and dragged him out the door. “What the hell are you doing?” He whispered.

“Well I hope I’m setting you up on the best damn spring break you’ll ever have.”

“Why would you offer her your ticket, I thought you wanted to be home for the game.”

“I do mate but this is way more fun.” Hunter laughed. “Besides Bobbi is sticking around too and it’s not like I’m losing any money here.”

“What about the deal, if you lose you’ll have to pay for two tickets for a trip you didn’t even go on.”

“I think you mean the bet I’m going to win, did you see her reaction just now and the sight of you two earlier when I walked in, she couldn’t be more sickeningly in love, so I’m out no money, I’m going to have even more proof for my paper and I can hold this over you for the rest of your life.”

“What if this is too much too soon, we’ve only been going out a couple months, we were fighting just an hour ago, taking a trip together, meeting each other’s families seems kind of fast.”

The man only shrugged. “Grand romantic gestures mate, it’s in the paper, technically you have to do this.”

Fitz groaned, turning to thump his head against the door only to have it swing open and nearly knock him out.

“Fitz?” Jemma said stepping into the hallway. “Hunter could I talk to Fitz for a minute?”

“Of course love, take all the time you need.”

He passed Jemma, placing a hand on her shoulder before returning to the pizza that awaited him. Jemma shuffled in front of him not saying anything and putting him on edge. “What did you want to talk about?”

Jemma rolled her eyes. “Fitz,” she sighed. “I would love to go home with you for spring break, I’d like you to meet my parents, I think they’d really like you and I know I’d like your mom, you talk about her so fondly-but,” she stepped closer to him to take his hand. “If you aren’t comfortable with that then we won’t, I’m not sure when I could pay you back anyways.”

“Please come.” Fitz said suddenly.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I think my mom would love to meet you and it’ll be a lot of fun.”

“Okay.”

“And don’t worry about paying me back, this is a um, a gift to you.”

“Fitz that’s really not necessary.”

“Why don’t we decide after the trip.”

“I like that idea.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like this chapter because I would really love to meet Fitz's Mom and Jemma's Family on the show. Just so you know I'm terrible about making up names for characters. I prefer to have something to go by. I think I've read somewhere than Jemma's sister's name is charlotte in the comic books and I've always liked that name so I went with it. I've never heard anything for anyone else so they are made up on the spot.

“I can’t believe I’m going home, I thought for sure I wouldn’t see my family until graduation.” Jemma said as she folded up a couple sweaters to bring with her.

Daisy, who was inspecting everything Jemma placed into her suitcase with a critical eye, distractedly replied. “Yeah I bet your parents are excited, these are the pajamas you’re bringing?” She held up the matching flannel set.

Jemma looked up from her dresser. “What’s wrong with them?”

“Am I wrong or didn’t your old room get converted to a study?”

“It did, entirely with my permission, nearly everything in there is mine anyways.” Jemma said with a shrug.

“So you stay in the guest room when you visit?”

“Yes?” Jemma replied slowly.

“So if that room is occupied by family, were would a guest like Fitz stay?”

When realization dawned on Jemma she rolled her eyes and turned back to her packing. “Is that what you’re getting at, my having to share a bed with my boyfriend?”

“Your boyfriend who you haven’t slept with but really really want to.” Daisy clarified. Her sing-song tone was unamusing to Jemma.

“Do you honestly believe I can’t handle sharing a bed without getting-stimulated?” She placed her hands on her hips, offended by insinuation.

“No not at all, but with as much tension as there is between the two of you right now it’s going to be difficult.”

“We will be at my parents’ house, I’m not going to befoul their guest bedroom.”

“If you say so, I still think you might want to bring something a little less,” she held up a plain white bra, “utilitarian.”

Jemma yanked the bra out of Daisy’s hand and placed it back in the suitcase where it was meant to go. “I thought I wasn’t supposed to sleep with him?”

“What is that your mantra to keep from doing it? That was when this was just a science project, you are so head over heels for this guy that I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“So now you want me to seduce him?”

“Honestly you could probably manage in your flannel jammies given how crazy he is for you, but the whole thing is kind of romantic, might as well play it up.”

“Yes it will be so romantic, trying to keep quiet so we don’t wake my parents.”

“You’re right, that’ll never work, you’re too loud.” Daisy relented.

Jemma stared back in horror. “Excuse me?”

“We share a wall Jemma.”

Jemma blushed. “Well maybe I am but so are you and you know what you and Lincoln can be as loud as you like while I’m gone.” Daisy started to protest but Jemma had shuffled out of the room to the bathroom to collect her toiletries before she could hear it. The two had spent nearly every night together that one of them wasn’t working. It would only be a matter of time. When she returned Daisy was sat, almost shyly next to her suitcase fiddling with her hands.

“We’re not you know.” Daisy said, not looking up. “Together.”

“Well maybe this will be the week.”

“I think he’s trying to give me time, because of Ward or whatever.” She explained.

Jemma nodded in understanding. “You could try dropping hints.”

“I thought I was, maybe I’m being too subtle.”

“Maybe try being very direct, I’m pretty certain he likes you too.”

“I know he does, that’s the problem!”

“Well then just do it then, just, just hold his hand or something.”

“Hold his hand? Geez Jemma were not in kindergarten.”

“Well if he’s not taking the hints, you have to make it easy for him.”

Jemma deposited the remainder of her toiletries into her travel bag and zipped up her suitcase. “There that’s everything.”

“Yes, it is, just as you packed it, not a single item less or more than needed.” To Jemma surprise Daisy jumped up and took her suitcase out to the door. She and Fitz would be leaving very early the next morning.

“Um thank you.”

* * *

 

The flight had been great. Jemma was able to discuss everything she hadn’t been able to ask Fitz about over the two weeks they had been seperated. She went over assignments and discussed new ones. He updated her on the progress of the drones and worried over the presentation he would have to make. She babbled on and on about the vibranium as the school had been given a very small sample for testing and research. Fitz was quite excited for the potential it held in the various engineering fields. Unfortunately not much of it existed.

When they finished their discussion on that it transitioned into something else so easily she couldn’t pin point the change. The eight-hour flight had been filled nicely and only with a few complaints from other passengers that grew weary of their endless conversations. Only providing them a small reprieve from the science jargon when Fitz nodded off and Jemma picked up a book.

The train ride into town and the accompanying taxi ride to her parents were less easy going. Jemma was constantly distracted from their conversation about a recent movie by Fitz’s fidgeting hands and bouncing knee.

“Ugh Fitz, I promise they’ll like you, stop worrying.”

“I’m just anxious, I’ve never met a girlfriend’s parents before.”

“Well aren’t you lucky, my parents are very nice welcoming people.” Fitz nodded. He still looked even paler than usual. “It’ll be okay, they’ll like you better than all of my past boyfriends, you are much more their type.”

“All of? Exactly how many did you have?” Fitz nudged her shoulder jokingly.

“Oh not many, not many that lasted long anyways.”

Fitz didn’t appear overly reassured as they stopped in front of the familiar brick house. She paid the cab driver, very insistently pushing Fitz’s wallet away, he had already paid for the plane tickets, if she had her way she’d pay for everything else, including any dates they went on.

“Jemma what if your parents see, what will they think.” Fitz huffed as the trudged up the walk.

“They’ll think what they’ve always thought, that they have a very stubborn independent daughter.”

“That is indeed what we think.”

Jemma looked up at the sound of her dad’s voice. He was just stepping down off the front stairs, her mother right behind him. Jemma ran forward to hug them. Oh she hadn’t seen them in such a long time. She buried her head in her dad’s sweater, he always smelled of the library. Jemma’s mom came at them from the side, mixing the smell of the garden in with it.

“We are so glad you were able to come for a visit, wish we had a bit more notice of course but no worries, we can squeeze everyone in.”

“Everyone?” Jemma asked her mother. Her and Fitz wouldn’t take up that much room.

“Your brother and sister are here too, so they’ll be occupying their own rooms.” Her dad explained, “though I’m sure you won’t mind sharing with your friend here?”

Fitz hovered a few feet away. Holding both her suitcase and his own. “Oh, Mum, Dad, this is Leopold Fitz.” She grabbed him by his clammy hands and pulled him closer, the suitcases toppled to the ground but she ignored them.

“Fitz, this is my mum, Julia and my dad, Mark.”

“It’s very nice to meet you both.” He politely reached for their hands to shake them.

“Same here Fitz, you do prefer Fitz right, Jemma made a huge fuss about it over the phone, says you hate to be called Leopold.”

Jemma watched as Fitz’s pale complexion suddenly turned five different shades of red. “Oh it’s really not-I mean I just don’t care much for the name, never thought it suited me, but you can call me whatever you like Sir.”

“Alright but only if you agree to drop the Sir nonsense.”

“Are Brighton and Charlotte here? I’d like them to meet Fitz too.” Jemma picked up her suitcase, skirting past her father as he tried to take it from her. “They’ll be in right around dinner, couldn’t miss an opportunity to see their sister and her new boyfriend.

“Yes Charlotte, is quite excited to meet the boy who her sister just raves about, she never could get Jemma talking about boys.” Jemma’s mother said as she fell back to walk in step with Fitz. “Jemma complained endlessly that they were just so boring, much rather talk of science.”

“I think Brighton is excited too.” Her Father said as he held the door open for his wife and Fitz. “He’s always wanted to give the big brother talk to one of Jemma’s boyfriends, I’d kind of like the opportunity too.”

“Well perhaps you boys can just plan out a time and get it out of the way, I don’t want you interrogating my boyfriend for our entire stay, it is only a few days you know, and then it’s off to see Fitz’s mother.” 

* * *

 

Fitz watched Jemma drop down on the guest bed, they had finally made it up the stairs after the family had spent a while catching up. Her eyes closed and she smiled contently. He knew the familiar feeling of being home. The warmth it provided. He started to feel it as they walked through the airport but the anxiety he was feeling over meeting Jemma’s family was acting as a buffer from reaching his own hometown bliss. And now there was the added anxiety of knowing he had to share a bed with her.

“I can sleep on the floor, I don’t mind.”

“Oh Fitz you don’t have to do that.” She jumped up and walked over to the closet to start collecting spare blankets.

“Are you sure, I mean I guess your parents just assumed that we did it on a regular basis.” That wasn’t right. “I mean sharing a bed, that we share a bed on a regular basis not the other thing, we-we uh haven’t done either of those things yet.”

“We’ve fallen asleep together on the couch a few times, this won’t be much different, more space, though maybe we won’t need it.” She stepped up close to him, so much so she had to tilt her head back to look him in the eyes. “I’m a very cuddly sleeper I’m afraid.”

“That, that shouldn’t be a problem.” Her hands slipped around his middle. “You’re not afraid that it’ll lead to that other thing.”

She looked thoughtfully up at him. “It doesn’t have to, but maybe a good step forward, is that okay?”

“Yeah, yeah that is.” Feeling a bit lighter he leaned down to kiss her gently on the lips.

“If you two are going to be doing all that then I will spring for the hotel room.”

Fitz sprung backwards, bumping into the bed. Jemma squealed like he often heard girls do but never had he heard it from Jemma. “Charlotte!”

“Jemma!” She flew across the room into her sister’s embrace. Fitz didn’t think the sisters looked much alike. Charlotte was taller, blonder, but they had similar eyes. “Oh I’ve missed you!”

“Me too, how have you been?”

“Bored stiff, I know school is your entire life but I am ready to be done with it.” Charlotte said hopelessly.

“Two more years Charlotte, you’ll be fine.”

“I know and they expect it, no matter what field you want to go into.”

Fitz took the first opportunity to remind the pair of his presence. “What field is that?”

Charlotte looked him over with a careful eye. “I like him, seems like a better match than the others.”

“I like him too.”

“Brighton’s downstairs, come on, I want to see his face when he realizes he might be able to beat up one of your boyfriends.”

The days spent in Sheffield we’re dizzying for Fitz. The Simmons’s had a way of talking that was almost like how the two of them spoke. Like they knew exactly what the other was going to say or do and were constantly jumping into to finish family stories or even start them before someone else could. There were lots of trips out of the house, all the Jemma’s favorite places and places she thought he might enjoy. The days left them exhausted and Fitz didn’t have the energy to make more of an ordeal over sharing a bed. The first night he was acutely aware and left a good bit of space between them. The next morning they woke snuggled together, Jemma clinging to him but definitely on her side of the bed. Apparently they were both to blame. His moving and her cuddling.

They didn’t make a big deal about it but as they prepared for the day Fitz caught her blushing as she rifled through her suitcase.

On their second to last day Fitz woke alone and oddly disappointed. On the nightstand, next to her side because of course he ended up there again, he found a note.

_Fitz, went shopping with my mum and dad, be back soon. <3 Jemma. _

_P.S. The study is usually quiet; you can hide there until I get home._

Fitz smiled at the note. He was growing accustomed to her family. They were nice people, if maybe a bit talkative. There was some breakfast left for him in the kitchen. They didn’t have a table in there. In fact, the Simmons’s may be the only family who used their dining room so regularly and lovingly. It didn’t look stuffy and decorative but well-worn and cozy. He ate in the same seat that he had the entire time they’d been there. Everyone had their spot. Brighton and Charlotte on one side. Her mom and dad at each end. A collage of family photos lined the walls, some professionally taken, others snapped by inexperienced fingers. One of Jemma in black and white, maybe three years old looked beautiful enough to be a Christmas card.

After he’d eaten, he went in search of the study Jemma showed him. She had told him it used to be her room, before they converted it into a study. She already had more books than anyone else, it had made the most sense. A desk sat at one side of the room, opposite a beautiful bay window. Bookcases lined the far wall. A closet door was tucked into the corner. Sharing a wall with the door were awards. Loads of them, for everything imaginable. All three Simmons kids were talented but Jemma easily out stripped her siblings in recognition.

Science awards. Outstanding academic achievement. Diplomas. Medals and trophies. Pictures of Jemma wearing the metals and holding the trophies. All from a very young age. There was something that seemed out of place, almost missing, but he couldn’t place it.

“She’s damn smart isn’t she?”

Fitz looked to the door where Brighton was leaning against the frame.

“Brilliant.”

“You must be too, she’s never been afraid of dating but never kept a boyfriend around very long, none of them could keep up with her and anyone smart enough to come close was too intimidated to do so.” Brighton wandered into the room. “You wouldn’t do that would you?”

Fitz shook his head. He felt blessed every day he got to spend with Jemma. Her dedication to knowledge was incredible and inspirational. His own work benefited greatly even when she didn’t give input. Sitting next to her made him work harder.

“Well then I glad she found you.”

“Thanks.” Brighton started to leave but Fitz had just figured out what was missing from the wall and he wanted to know why. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“All the pictures of Jemma’s achievements, paired with the certificate or the trophy, how come there’s not any pictures of her high school graduation?”

Brighton’s eyes narrowed and then widened when something clicked in his mind. “She hasn’t told you?”

“Told me what?”

“Guess she probably doesn’t like to talk about it.”

“Talk about what?”

“Probably should let her tell you.”

“Brighton?”

“She’d be pissed at me for telling you.”

“SIMMONS!”

“Sorry.” Fitz frowned. That was a particularly unusual trait that the Simmons’s shared. “Look I’ll tell you but don’t tell her I did.”

“Fine.”

“You see Jemma went to this real prestigious school with a huge focus on academics and making sure the students got a jump start on farther education and career opportunities, it was the perfect place for her, excellent teachers, competitive environment, you must know how that helps her strive.” He did. He liked to think his presence benefited her the same way she did for him.

“Anyways she was young when she graduated.”

“Eleven, I knew that, I was too.”

“Yeah? Huh, well that she doesn’t mind broadcasting.” Brighton said with an all too familiar eye roll. “She was the youngest in the school by years, no one was even close and yet she had the highest grades, the best scores, the usual, so she was asked to speak as the class valedictorian.”

Of course she was.

“She was so excited, spent hours, days on her speech, recited it to us so many times she had it memorized and timed, talking about how much they had achieved in their time at school and everything they worked for and what lay ahead for them.” Fitz was familiar with that Jemma. She showed the same passion for her upcoming speech.

 “She got up to present it during the graduation rehearsal, so a couple days prior to the big event, she was so tiny they had to get her a step stool to see over the podium.” Brighton sighed and his fists clenched. Fitz didn’t understand what could be upsetting him. “She started the speech and it was okay for a minute until they had to stop because some kids were snickering in the front row, a teacher hushed them and asked Jemma to continue but it just picked up again and finally the teacher asked him if there was something he would like to share with everyone.”

“So he did, he stood up and announced that he didn’t think it was right that Jemma was giving the speech, she hadn’t put in as many years as they had, she hadn’t had to work as hard for the honor, she shouldn’t have even been eligible.”

“That’s bullshit, just because she completed the curriculum faster than they did?”

“Yeah well the teacher tried to explain that to the kid but then another one stood up and another, mob mentality I guess, they said such awful things, called her a freak, and an oddity, Jemma ran right off the stage, couldn’t find her for nearly an hour, I had half a mind to punch the kid’s lights out right there and I can only imagine if our parents had been there. She wanted to surprise them so I took her to the rehearsal.”

“What happened?”

“You have to understand these kids were used to getting their way, so of course when parents started coming into collect their charming offspring the first thing they went on about was how unfair it was that the strange little child prodigy should take the honor away from them when she really wasn’t part of the school the way they were. So then the parents raised a fuss and these are rich influential people, who get their way.”

“The teachers tried to defend Jemma, in the end they were able to make the parents agree to letting another student and Jemma both give speeches, Jemma was so humiliated by what happened she refused. She wouldn’t even go to the ceremony.”

Fitz was furious, that anyone could be so cruel to Jemma. She was just a child at the time.  Was it any wonder she was so hyped up about their impending graduation.

“She says she took time off before university because she wanted to travel and start when she could be the same age as her peers so that she could "truly experience it" the way it was meant to be but everyone knows she was just afraid of it happening again.”

“Fitz! Brighton!” Jemma’s voice rang through the house.

Brighton’s eyes widened. “Seriously don’t tell her I told you, eventually she will.”

“Fitz! Come down stairs, I want to show you what I bought!”

“Well don’t keep my sister waiting.”

“Right, thanks for telling me by the way.”

“No problem.”

The two hurried down the stairs before Jemma could shout again. Mrs. Simmons and Charlotte stood in the foyer, hands loaded with bags. Mr. Simmons was just smiling at the pair like they were precious gifts. “Jemma got a dress for graduation.” Charlotte announced.

“Why make such a big deal, she’ll have her gown on over it?” Brighton pointed out. Fitz silently agreed but when Jemma stepped out from the down stairs bathroom in a pretty blue dress, beaming at him and twirling the skirt around her knees he somehow did understand why she’d make a big deal out of it. This was her second chance to give her speech and she was going to make sure it was perfect.

“You look beautiful Jemma.” Fitz commented almost instinctively. Hunter’s stupid method having began to seep into his behavior. He knew he should be more embarrassed having her whole family standing there as he said it but she just focused on him and the rest of them didn’t matter.

“It’s so close Fitz, isn’t it exciting?” She stepped forward and wobbled. “Oh I bought new shoes too.” She reached out for him so she could approach without losing her balance. Fitz looked down at her feet. They were dressed in strappy little contraptions that made her a couple inches taller.

He frowned. “You do realize you’ll have to be standing a lot during the ceremony right?”

“I know but I’m giving a speech on stage Fitz, I’d like everyone to be able to see me.” She said it jokingly but Fitz’s brain bounced back to the image of eleven-year old Jemma on a step stool staring out over her peers as they criticized and teased her.

“Well then you’ll need to practice walking in them.” 

* * *

 

The next afternoon they left for Fitz’s mom’s place. Jemma became a little teary eyed as she said goodbye to her family although they joked that it was silly to do so, graduation was just a month away.

They rented a car to make the trip and this time it was Jemma’s turn to sit nervously and await the impending girlfriend introduction to his mother. Fitz believed that if it was any other girl they might have reason to worry but Jemma didn’t. What could his mom criticize? How smart she was? How pretty she was? How polite she was?

“You need to relax.”

“How am I supposed to relax, do you have any idea how important sons are to their mother’s, my mum always made such a fuss of Brighton, and you’re your mom’s only one.”

“It’ll be fine Jemma.”

* * *

 

Jemma didn’t think so. She tried to sit back and listen to the radio, tried to distract herself by pointing out land markers, even taking a nap wasn’t helping. She just dreamed up different scenarios where his mother found something to dislike about her.

If she wasn’t confined to the car with Fitz in ear shot she would have made a voice note about researching what stage of the triangle did seeking parental approval fall into; likely between intimacy and commitment she supposed. She’d have to use her phone though. Daisy had snuck her recorder out of her bag at some point.

When they stopped for a quick break Jemma did jot some notes down in her organizer. And quickly hid it back in her bag when Fitz was finished with the gas.

“Here we are.” Fitz said as the car came to a stop. It had begun to drizzle outside and Jemma was watching the drops race down the window. “Jem, we’re here.”

“Sorry.” She hopped out of the car, racing him to her bag so he wouldn’t have time to take it. Once they were inside and out of the rain Fitz called through the house. “Mum? We’re here!”

“Oh!” There was a squeak from somewhere towards the back of the house. A moment later a woman came rushing into the hallway in a blur of blonde curls. “Leopold!” She was tiny, had to pull Fitz down to properly embrace him.

“Hi Mum.”

The woman held on to him tighter and Jemma go the impression that Fitz didn’t make it home as often as she would have liked. Her eyes opened and met Jemma’s over Fitz’s shoulder. It was incredible how much he looked like her, same bright blue eyes, same nose, she smiled at the sight of Jemma, same smile.

“Leopold she is even prettier in person.” She pulled away from her son who was blushing and stammering. “And Leo tells me your quite brilliant too!” Jemma expected to shake the woman’s hand but she’d already pulled her into the same bone crushing hug she had given to Fitz.

“Fitz speaks very highly of you as well, it’s so nice to finally meet you.”

“A blessing that you were able to come with him on this trip, Leo did you offer to carry her bags?”

“I did Mum, she’s very stubborn about it.”

“She is.” Jemma confirmed when Evelyn looked her over.

“Fair enough, I like a strong willed woman.” She turned back to Fitz. “Show Jemma around, I’ve got to check on dinner, you two will have to bunk in his room, but feel free to kick him to the couch if you get sick of him.”

“I like her.” Jemma said as the woman rounded the corner out of sight.

“She likes you to.”

“She’s only known me for a minute and a half.”

“Yeah well my mum’s always been a good judge of character.” He started up the narrow staircase. “It’s not much by the way, the house that is.”

Jemma looked around the little entry way, a small dining room to the left, a living room to the right with a big bay window taking up nearly a whole wall. Unfortunately it was overcast outside but the glow of a few table lamps reminded her of cuddling up on a rainy day with her favorite book. “I like it already.”

Upstairs was smaller. Two bedrooms and a bathroom right at the top of the steps. “Mum’s on the left, I’m on the right.” He pushed open the door to his room and Jemma smiled at the sight. He just had a tiny twin bed but it was made up lovingly with a patchwork quilt and what could only be a hand knitted throw blanket. The bay window from down stairs continued up into his room and the window seat was converted to storage for numerous books. Books that wouldn’t fit on the bookshelves which appeared to be loaded with very few books and many more prototypes. A drafting desk sat in one corner and a dresser in the other.

“This looks almost exactly like your room back at school.”

“You’ve not been in my room.” Fitz said, dropping his bag on the bed and looking back at her in the doorway.

“I was curious, I peeked once on my way to the bathroom, the only difference is the clothes on the floor.”

“Yeah, well, Mum runs a tight ship.” He looked over the room, probably making sure nothing embarrassing was lying about. Jemma spotted a stuffed monkey on one shelf but he must have been so accustomed to its presence it didn’t register it in his initial search. It would later disappear to under the bed. “You can sleep here, I’ll take the couch.”

Jemma shook her thoughts away. Well that seemed rather unnecessary, they’d been sharing a bed the past few days. “You don’t have to do that, we can share again.”

“Your parents had that nice big bed in their guest room, I’m not sure two people will even fit on that bed.”

“Nonsense, we ended up all tangled together anyways, didn’t even use half the bed.” A fact they didn’t discuss at the time but Jemma was rather pleased with the situation.

“Fine, but if you change your mind then you can sleep on the couch and you can explain it to my mum when she starts yelling at me.”

“Deal.”

As it turned out Fitz’s mum was an excellent cook and Jemma watched as Fitz ate more than she’d ever seen him eat that night. And that was really saying something.

“So have you been up here before?” Evelyn asked.

“Actually I have, friends of my parents own a little cottage in Perthshire, they would let us use it for a couple weeks every summer, haven’t been in years though.”

“I didn’t know that.” Fitz said a look of delight deep in his eyes.

“Yeah, oh its beautiful, we would have tea in the garden and play board games in the living room, if I was up early enough I would watch the sunrise from the backyard. There was a lovely bakery just down the street and dad always brought us breakfast from there.”

“Do you remember the name?” Evenlyn asked.

She shook her head. “I don’t, I’m sure I’d know it if I saw it but I can’t really even remember where in Perthshire it was.” Jemma explained.

“Maybe you two should drive up while you’re in town and see if you can find it.”

“Maybe, I think Fitz has lots of other plans though,” Jemma explained. “He won’t tell me what but he’s arranges nice dates so I’m looking forward to it.”

“I want it to be a surprise.”

“Yes a surprise, Fitz thinks he’s the romantic one.” Jemma told Evelyn who giggled and reached for Fitz’s hand.

“That is a surprise, must be you bring it out in him.” Jemma’s felt herself blushing and Evelyn’s comment. She hadn’t considered that but it made her heart beat a little faster. They finished dinner and dessert, never with a drop in conversation until it was late and they retired to bed. 

The next two days were lovely in Jemma’s opinion. Fitz apologized a lot for things she didn’t think necessary. The small bed and the creaky floor boards and every embarrassing story his mum insisted on telling. Jemma actually found those quite amusing.

He took her to a really nice restaurant not far from the house and after a lot of bickering it was decided that he would pay just this once.

His mother had a long list of things that needed fixing that he promised to attend to. When those came up she would either hover around or relax in his room. While he attempted to fix the garbage disposal, which was letting off an awful smell, Jemma opted for refugee away from the stench. As did Fitz’s mother who Jemma didn’t immediately see watching her from the door as she snooped a bit around Fitz’s room. She was just curious about the models and prototypes that lined his bookshelves. There was one in particular that caught her attention. There was skill and precision to each design, even the one that appeared to be made out of an old toaster oven, but one, hidden on the highest shelf, was rougher.

She didn’t know what it was but something about it had her taking it off the shelf for a closer look.

“Of all the things that boy has ever built, that one is my favorite.” Evelyn said as she stepped into the room.

Jemma smiled. “What is it?”

“Not a clue, but Leo says it works and that is what matters.” She took a seat next to Jemma on the bed. “Was the first thing he built after his accident that he was proud of.”

Jemma tilted her head in confusion. “Accident?”

Evelyn looked back at her with widened eyes. “Oh dear, he didn’t tell you.” Jemma shook her head. Fitz had never mentioned an accident. “You never wondered why he took so much time off between high school and university?”

“He told me it was because you were ill.” He wouldn’t have lied about such a terrible thing would he?

“Oh Leo.” She shook her head too. “I was in fact ill but that was not the only reason.” She explained. “Now don’t you dare tell him I told you this but there was an accident shortly after his graduation from high school.”

“What kind of accident?”

“A bad one, unfortunately,” Evelyn answered. “You see his class had a whole post-graduation party planned at a park not far from the school and, well Fitz didn’t have many good friends because of his age difference but I insisted he go.” She added the last bit regretfully. “There’s a big lake there and, well a prank gone wrong I guess, one of the kids had an old pick up truck and had gotten a new one for graduation. Little vandals thought it would be funny to roll the old one into the lake while they rode in the back. At the time Fitz was fixing the radio in the cab at their request so that he wouldn't catch on. He nearly drowned. Thankfully one of the parents at the event was a doctor and they attended to him quickly until more help arrived.”

Jemma’s hand had jumped to her mouth to cover a gasp.

“Still he, he was in a coma for more than a week and there were lasting effects, speech impediments and hand tremors, aphasia, needless to say he didn’t take it well, always having been so reliant on his head and hands.”

Jemma looked down at the project in her hands and its rough edges. “He got better though, I-I’ve heard him stutter a bit but never thought much of it, I thought it was a nervous tick.”

“It was a long recovery, he didn’t even want to try for the longest time and then I finally got him to and I became ill.” Evelyn explained. “I made him promise that if he worked harder to get better than so would I, it seemed to be good motivation for him.” She took the prototype out of Jemma’s hands. “This was the first thing he built and didn’t throw across the room in frustration, its rough and temperamental but apparently works and that’s what mattered to him. After he finished it he resubmitted his applications to the universities.”

Jemma was suddenly struck with the thought of what might have happened had he not. They would have never met and even though it hadn’t been long, just months they’d really known each other, she couldn’t imagine being without him. Even just two weeks had left her distraught. 

“Thank you for telling me, I promise I won’t mention it to Fitz.”

“I think he’ll tell you when he’s ready, he’s so fond of you I just don’t think he wants you to think any less of him.” Jemma frowned. If anything she thought more of him, making such a recovery.

A loud shout from downstairs followed by a grinding noise and a string of curse words broke Jemma from her thoughts. “Better go check on him.” Evelyn said. She hopped up and left the room. Jemma looked at the project she’d set down on the bed, carefully running her fingers over it. She couldn’t figure out what it did either but Evelyn was right. It didn’t matter. She stuck it up on the shelf before joining the mother and son downstairs.

“Mum what did you put down this thing?!” Fitz was drenched it slimy water that had clearly come from the sink. He spotted her as she stepped into the kitchen. “I don’t think we’ll be able to go to that pub tonight, maybe we can try again a different day?”

Jemma was happy to agree but Evelyn not so much. “Oh no you don’t Leopold, you promised to take this girl to a real Scottish pub and that is what you are going to do, the sink is not going anywhere, you can fix it tomorrow.”

Fitz looked back at his mother panicked, “but Mum tomorrow-“

“The next day then," she corrected, "or I’ll call a plumber-“

“I don’t want you to waste money on a plumber, I can fix it for free.”

“Go get washed up Leopold.”

Jemma smiled at the exchange. She wouldn’t have mind putting off the pub until the next day but apparently they had plans? Fitz hadn’t mentioned anything but he was always trying to surprise her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of backstory which we get just some of in the movie for those characters. Jemma's backstory was more important for me to include and I nearly didn't put in Fitz's backstory but I remembered I made reference to it in an earlier chapter and I hated to have a plot hole. I think I was able to work it in smoothly and it is kind of important to future plot but Jemma's was more so. Hopefully the whole thing is not too awkward.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Agents of SHIELD is back Day! Who else is excited for season 4? And for canon fitzsimmons? In a relationship? Being adorable? I guess I timed this out just right because this is probably the happiest and fluffiest of chapters. What better way to celebrate then sending fitzsimmons to perthshire.

Jemma had liked the suggestion Fitz’s mother had made, to try and find the old cottage in Perthshire, but didn’t think much of it until Fitz woke her early on their third day in Glasgow with a thermos of coffee in hand.

“Get dressed.”

“It’s still dark Fitz.”

“If you want to be in Perthshire by sunrise you have to leave when its dark.” Jemma sat up, staring at him in disbelief. But he was dressed, keys dangling from his hand.

She grinned up at him before jumping out of bed and rummaging through her suitcase for clothes. A pair of jeans, her walking shoes, the blue sweater of Daisy’s. Daisy! Jemma’s cheeks went red as she remembered what her roommate had hidden away in the depths of her bag without her knowledge. It was the sudden burst of affection she felt for Fitz that made her grab the frillier matching undergarments Daisy had packed for her, wrapping them in her clothes before she dunked away to the bathroom. It’s not like he would even know she was wearing them but it put an extra skip in her step anyways.

The ride was chilly. Scotland was no doubt beautiful but even colder than England. Jemma wrapped herself in her jacket and fussed with the heat in the car.

“It’ll be warmer as soon as the sun comes up.” Fitz assured her.

“I’m well aware of how the weather works Fitz, but until the solar rays come bursting over the horizon I’ll have to settle for artificial means of heat.” Fitz rolled his eyes and continued to drive, only stopping once to remove his own coat as he quickly became too warm. She snatched it to huddle under too.

“My mum says there’s a good spot for sunrise watching at this little park.” He pointed to a green patch on the GPS.

“It’s a little ways away, we’ll have to hurry.”

They did just make it. Fitz had tossed a blanket in the trunk but there was no time to set it out before the sun arrived, casting a pretty yellow glow across the hills in the distance. It was beautiful, even better than she remembered. When she glanced at Fitz to see his reaction she found him staring back at her. His eyes darted back to the rising sun then down to the blanket in his arms. “We should set it up, stay for a while.”

Agreeing, Jemma helped lay out the blanket. The chill in the air would disappear soon but she curled up next to Fitz to share his warmth.

“We can try to find the bakery and the cottage or just walk around town.” Jemma turned her head, their faces were just inches apart. “Mum’s not expecting us back anytime soon.”

“We’ll make a day of it then.” She leaned forward enough to press her lips lightly against his.

* * *

 

It took them awhile to find anywhere that Jemma even recognized. Random things triggered memories. A street name, an old building, even a tree.

“I think it’s this way Fitz, this definitely feels right.” She said, running ahead of him to get a closer look at the street sign. Fitz’s feet were starting to feel very sore from walking. They left the car behind at a public lot so it would be easier to follow Jemma’s obscure paths. They had eaten breakfast back at the park, but that had been hours ago and he was starting to get grouchy. Jemma was certain the place was just around the corner; about four corners ago.

“Jemma, maybe we should just head back to the other restaurant we saw.”

“But Fitz I know we’re almost there and you’ll love it I promise.” She hurried farther down the street and stopped suddenly. “YES! Fitz we did it.” She shouted as though they had accomplished some great feat and not something that could have been accomplished in seconds if either one of their phones had a signal.

The little bakery was more of a restaurant at lunch time. Little tables filled the small dining area and a sweet older woman greeted and seated them at one of the few empty tables. “What can I get ya?”

“Do you still make that soup, it’s sort of creamy and sweet, I’m sorry it’s been so long since I had it.” Jemma said sheepishly and Fitz could tell she wanted a menu or something to refer too.

“You’re not locals, I’m so sorry, your accent or his I guess, just assumed.”

“We go to school in America and are home for break.” Fitz explained.

“But I have been here before it was just a very long time ago, my family used to stay at a cottage not far from here, me, my brother and sister and parents and my mum and I always ordered the same soup.” Jemma explained. “It was delicious, Fitz I think you’d really like it.”

“I think I know exactly which one you mean, two servings, fresh bread, you look like you could use a sandwich on the side.” The woman said, focusing on him. Fitz nodded eagerly, he didn’t even care what was on it. The place smelled heavenly, whatever she brought would be fine.

A few minutes later the food was in front of them and Fitz was devouring it. Jemma savored the first bite and the second, humming her contentment. “Definitely the same.”

“I think I remember you, you were maybe ten last time you were here.”

“That’s right, we stayed at the-“

“Collins house, I remember, your dad would come down every morning you were here and he and my husband would talk for ages about the best place to fish and the best books to read.”

“That’s so incredible that you remember.” Jemma said, awe evident in her tone.

“You were such a nice family, some of our first customers right after we opened, my husband and I own this place, been here nearly twenty years now.”

Fitz listened as the two reminisced. Jemma explained, to Millie, she introduced herself as, that she had just wanted to see the house again. At that point the woman called over her husband to give them directions. It was just walking distance down the road, they’d find it in no time.

Once they finished their meals they set off with the promise to return for treats before heading home. 

* * *

 

“This is it, oh, it hasn’t changed at all Fitz.” Fitz looked over the little cottage. It had a neatly manicured lawn, with a stepping path that led up to a door that had been painted dark blue, a nice contrast to the gray stone masonry. It was beautiful, belonged on a post card for sure. Although not with the for sale sign stuck in the middle of the yard. “Oh no!”

Fitz knew immediately Jemma’s nostalgic gaze had overlooked the sign until just that moment. “Oh they just can’t sell it, I love this house.”

“I’m afraid the daughter of their friend whom they haven’t seen in ten plus years won’t be the one that conveniences them.”

She let out a frustrated sigh and glared down at the sign. Fitz, for the briefest moment, thought she might kick it. “I wish I could have just had one last opportunity to walk around inside.”

Fitz looked from the house to the for sale sign and back to her. “I’ve got an idea.” Before he could reconsider he took Jemma’s hand and pulled her around the house, through the fence gate and around to the back patio.

“Fitz we shouldn’t be back here it’s trespassing.”

“You know the owners, I’m sure its fine.” Fitz went for the back door where a typical lock box rested around the knob. He looked at the make and model and then examined the lock system in the door. “Give me five minutes.”

“Fitz you can’t possibly-“

He did. And in just four minutes and twenty-two seconds.

“Come on, you’ll get to look around one last time before you have to say good bye.” Jemma’s uncertainty faded into a gracious smile and she carefully led the way into the kitchen at the back of the house.

“It’s just like I remember!” Jemma exclaimed and rushed over to the little breakfast nook that had all mix-matched chairs surrounding it. “Charlotte had to have the purple one, she was insistent on it, I personally liked the yellow one.” The little yellow painted chair nearest to the window had daisies carved into the back and the paint peeled at the corners. “Look they even have the same magnets!” Jemma raced from the table to the fridge, tracing her hand over a few family photos. While her back was turned to him, Fitz snapped a quick picture on his phone of the table and chairs with the window that looked out to the back yard. He wasn’t sure why he did it, but he could email them to Jemma later for keepsakes.

“Maybe we should take a look around the living room?”

Jemma’s eyes lit up but her expression quickly turned anxious. “We really should not be in here.”

“Jemma it’s fine, who is going to tell on us, they don’t even have a proper alarm system.”

She fidgeted in front of him for a minute and Fitz thought for sure that they were going to have to cut their adventure short but then she darted into the adjacent room. “Oh my gosh look at this old TV!”

Fitz walked into the room after her and he couldn’t contain his laughter at the sight of the old school big screen television. It was ancient. “We thought we were at the movies when we were kids, the screen seemed just as big, look they still have the VCR.” Jemma spun around to take in the rest of the room. “You know this would have been the height of fashion when I was a kid, my mum used to talk about having our living room done the same way.” Jemma explained and Fitz looked back horrified. The furniture was hideous and while it looked well kept it was obvious it hadn’t been used in a very long time. “Back there are the bedrooms and the bathroom and upstairs was the master suite, my sister and I had to share a room while Brighton got one all to himself.”

“That’s not so bad.”

“There is only one bed and Charlotte kicks in her sleep.”

“You made these Perthshire trips sound so grand when you were talking to my mum, now it sounds like a lot of complaining about your family.”

“Oh no, they were wonderful but who doesn’t complain about their families, come on.” She took his hand and dragged him down the hall to the farthest room. Inside was a double bed with a floral duvet. Jemma stepped around the bed, going instead for the closet. “We kept track of our height on the frame, I was ten the last time we were here.”

She pointed to a notch in the jam that was maybe eight inches lower then her height now. “I can’t even imagine you being shorter than you are now.” Fitz joked. Jemma shot him a half-hearted glare before tracing her fingers over the other notches. “We should mark your height now.” Fitz suggested. He patted down his pockets and extracted a pen.

Jemma shook her head. “Fitz we can’t, that’s vandalism.”

“It’s not different then what you did as kids, the new owners will have to replace the whole piece anyways.” He knew he had cornered her, there was no way to reason why she couldn’t. Eventually she gave in.

“Fine, but quickly!”

“Yes I’m sure the police are on their way here right now, just preparing to arrest you.”

“Fitz!” She stood back against the frame. Fitz used his pen to carve out a line about her head and marked it with a Jemma age 23. “Fitz no! It was supposed to blend in.”

“Jemma you have to relax, no one is going to get mad at you okay, relax and enjoy it.” She still seemed on edge. He wanted so badly for her to enjoy this trip, he had to convince her to calm down. He took her shoulders and looked her in the eye. “Look if we do get busted for being in here, I’ll take the fall, tell everyone I dragged you in here kicking and screaming to bask in your childhood memories, it was completely against your will.”

A long moment passed and suddenly the tension released out of her. “Alright I’ll relax, no need to throw yourself on the stand for me.” She leaned up on her toes to kiss him gently. “I appreciate the gesture though, let’s look around a bit more.” They finished the down stairs with a tour of the bathroom and its pink toilet. “But why?” Fitz couldn’t understand. “It’s just meant to be shit in, why would it need to be pink?”

“I told you Fitz, everything was very in fashion then.” Jemma stopped in the foyer and Fitz made to go up the stairs assuming it was the next spot to reminisce.

“I’ve actually never been upstairs.” Jemma said from her spot next to the bolster. “There’s nothing up there that would invoke any memories for me.”

“Really not once all the times you’ve been here?” Fitz looked up the stairs, a single door waited at the top of the landing. His curiosity had been piqued and he found it hard to believe that Jemma, who he believed would one day be the embodiment of the curiosity killed the cat phrase, would rest easy never knowing what laid beyond that door. “You must want to know at least?”

“I mean sure I would, we used to joke about it when we were kids, Charlotte thought a ghost must live up there and Brighton was convinced a murder had taken place, but I’m sure it’s just a bedroom and bathroom that the Collins wanted to keep private, there must be access to the balcony as well, I can envision the floor plan just fine.”

“That’s definitely not the same thing.”

Jemma sighed. “It’s probably locked anyways.”

“Because that stopped us the first time.”

“Fine, just don’t touch anything.”

Fitz had to race her up the stairs. Not curious. Yeah right.

The door wasn’t locked. He supposed that would be ineffective in selling the home. The door lead to a beautiful bedroom. Light shown through the balcony windows, lighting up the room in a warm glow. A large four poster bed sat in the middle and a heavy wooden dresser and chest sat on adjacent walls. A pretty vanity was situated perfectly in between the bedroom and bathroom doors, the mirror throwing more light across the room.

“Looks like they haven’t updated this room since the 1890’s.”

“But it’s beautiful.” Jemma said, awestruck.

“I guess I could understand not wanting to share it with anyone.”

“Come on let’s go back downstairs.”

Fitz turned around to see Jemma already gone. He followed her back to the living room and found her sitting on the floor in front of the ginormous TV, the entertainment center doors were wide open. He dropped down next to her and was astounded to see a wide selection of Disney VHS tapes.

“I must have watched them all a dozen times.”

“Do you have a favorite?”

Without missing a beat, she replied. “Oh Mulan for sure.”

“You want to watch it?”

“Are we going to make popcorn too, we’re not even supposed to be in here?”

He shrugged. “Well you haven’t left yet so I have a feeling your enjoying being here, be it the nostalgia or the thrill of breaking and entering and I’m hoping you’ve come to reason that no one cares that we’re here.”

Jemma rested her arms and chin on her knees. “It skips, you know, might not even be worth trying.”

“Does it matter, bet you know the words by heart.”

Her smiled told him that she did. “Alright, but I cannot be held responsible for any singing that might ensue.”

They ended up curled together on the couch under a quilt Jemma dug out from the hall closet. The movie did skip but it was really just background noise to their conversations. Jemma wanted to know if he had ever visited Perthshire himself and he regaled her with the tale of his mother’s best friend’s wedding. A second wedding and an over the top affair. Lots of people, none of whom he knew, all stopping to pinch his cheeks and ruffle his hair. It was quite comical when a goat that had escaped from a nearby farm crashed the reception and devoured the cake. The bride taken by such surprise instinctively chased after the creature, grass staining her dress while her new husband fumbled after her and the bridal party, including his mother who was the one who finally cornered it.

Jemma was doubled over laughing by the time the farmer showed up to collect the scruffy beast.

“Movie’s over, should we get going?”

Jemma looked back at the TV. “You know I’ve always been fond of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, maybe we could watch that one too.”

“Pretty girl breaking into someone else’s cottage? Sounds perfect for you.” Jemma missed slapping his arm as he was already on his feet to change the movie over.

“I think it’s perfect, DWARFS, Drones Wirelessly Automated to Retrieve Forensics and each can be named after one, Sleepy, Grumpy, Doc, Happy, Sneezy-Sneezy could be the one equip for smell!” That time she succeeded in slapping his shoulders, her fingers dug into his shirt

“Really, after all that fuss you made about my Golden Retrievers.”

“Now that one was quite clever but I didn’t think it would be taken very seriously.”

“Oh but I’m sure Dopey the Dwarf will.”

“He can cover the basics, the easy stuff, like environmental factors, temperature and climate, Doc can collect information from human biology, Bashful can be the one that reads for thermal energy because blushing is caused by your body warming, Sneezy can be the one adapted for scent, its perfect.”

She paused for a breath and noticed Fitz staring at her with a strange look in his eye. Not bad, not at all bad, it was warm and happy and she felt like she was basking in the light of the sunrise again only better.

“We can set up a whole demonstration for your professor, have Sneezy sniff out samples, maybe a perfume sample and then have him find the match in the crowd.”

“It’s brilliant.” He said, still watching her.

Jemma couldn’t hold it in anymore, couldn’t handle him looking at her like that. She lunged at him, her lips going for his and forcing his eyes to close. His hands went to her waist, giving her balance and security and she climbed into his lap and tightened her arms around his neck. Every bit of her sunk into his embrace.

He pulled away from her suddenly. The look in his eyes had changed, they still watched her lovingly, but an obvious wanting also shown up at her. For a moment she thought he was going to stop them but he didn’t say anything. She thought, maybe, he didn’t want to stop just as much as she didn’t want to stop. But he wasn’t continuing. At least not consciously, she thought as she wiggled and adjusted to accommodate, and provoke, the reaction Fitz was experiencing beneath her.

“Are we stopping?” He finally asked.

She shook her head and rolled her hips. “Not this time.” His held fell back at the sensation, exposing the underside of his chin and jaw which she gladly gave attention to with little kisses and even smaller bites all as she ground again him. His hands moved and tugged blindly at her shirt until it came free from the waist of her jeans and they could slip underneath.

Her hands ached to mirror his and tugged at the buttons of his shirt and rucked up his t-shirt until a strip of pale skin was exposed to her. Just as she moved to follow the trail with her lips Fitz tugged her back to him. Kissing her with everything in him. His hands dropped to her thighs, moving up at down them inching closer and closer to her button and zipper.

“Wait!” Jemma gasped as she broke away. She clambered off of him and Fitz couldn’t tear his eyes away from her mused appearance. Her blouse she’d worn under her sweater was half undone, exposing her lacy blue bra and her flushed freckled skin. She looked down at him for a minute her eyes roaming over him. “Come on.” She said holding out both her hands.

“Where are we going?” He asked but it didn’t matter, if they were going to do this he wasn’t going to make a fuss over where it happened.

“I thought of a nice way to make some memories in that room upstairs.” She pulled him towards the stairs. “What do you think?”

“I told you, I think you’re brilliant.” He swooped back down and kissed her swollen lips.

* * *

 Fitz woke to bright sunshine breaking through the curtains. It shone directly into his eyes making him squint but he could make out Jemma lying there in his arms. The light lit up her bare shoulders and back and Fitz was ready to resume his activity from the previous night, counting each of her freckles and pressing a kiss to each one. She looked too peaceful to disturb though, and was probably exhausted if his own worn limbs were any indication.

He wanted desperately to snuggle back in. To just lay there all day with her but they had to go back soon. His mother would start to worry if they didn’t at least check in. And more importantly he was hungry. They had missed dinner and exerted a good bit of energy since lunch.

“Jemma?”

“Hmm.”

“I’m going to get us some breakfast, I’ll be right back okay?”

“But.”

“And Tea?”

“Okay.”

She pulled away and Fitz immediately felt a loss without her. She turned in her blanket until she was securely wrapped in its warmth. “Hurry back.”

Fitz shuffled around the room quietly collecting his discarded clothes from their various locations. Occasionally he would look back at Jemma fondly and more than once he caught her staring back at him before she would snap her eyes shut and pretend to sleep. He pulled on his t-shirt and his shorts and pants, leaving the button down behind when he couldn’t find it. His shoes would be down stairs somewhere.

The TV was on, the static that played at the end of the VHS tape blaring through the room. Fitz quickly clicked off the TV and returned the movie to its place on the shelf before heading out the back door and off down the road. It was a short walk back to the bakery they had visited yesterday. Jemma would regret not coming. It smelled even more of fresh bread than it had before.

“Fetching breakfast for that beautiful lass of yours?” The old man asked as he waited for the fresh round of tea.

“Oh, um, yeah.”

“Looks like you two had a bit of fun last night or do you always wear your clothes for two days in a row.” Fitz blushed and fiddled with the bag of pastries in his hands.

“I’ll have to brew you a batch, Kathy, all we’ve got right now is decaffeinated.” Fitz glanced over at the woman at the counter speaking with Millie. She wore a suit and high heels and carried an expensive looking purse. Very business professional.

“No rush Millie, I’ve got a few more minutes before the Cranes arrive.”

“Why meet them here and not at the house?”

“Are you kidding and miss out of the selling point of the Mom and Pop bakery just walking distance away?”

“Oh walking distance is it, the Collins old summer house?” Fitz’s heart stopped.

“That’s the one.”

Shit. Shit. Shit. Fitz ran out of the bakery nearly plowing down a couple who looked to be in their 30s. The house was just walking distance but a half mile run still winded Fitz. He plowed into the kitchen praying to see Jemma dressed and ready to go. No luck. She wasn’t in the living room either so he made for the steps, taking them two at a time. Too exhausted to yell he burst into the room looking frantically for her.

He froze.

Jemma sat by the window dressed in just his shirt and her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. It was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen and for a moment, despite his adrenaline pumping though him he just watched her. If he could see that sight every day, he’d be happy for the rest of his life.

 “Jemma.” She looked up from her book.

“Shh, I’m almost done-goodness are you alright.”

“Fine, we-we gotta, a realtor at the shop, coming here, have to leave, now!”

“What!”

“There is realtor at the coffee shop, her clients are coming to see this house.” But Jemma heard him the first time. She tossed aside the book begin looking frantically for her clothes. Fitz was a little stunned until Jemma jarred him with quick commands.

“Help me find my clothes, we’ve still got to remake the bed.” Fitz started tossing her pieces of clothes, panties, a camisole, socks. They rushed to make the bed, a brief debate ensued over whether they need to change the sheets. Jemma insisting it had to be done and Fitz pointing out the strangeness of sheets changing themselves.

“There’s your pants!” Fitz exclaimed as they untangled the comforter and they were dislodged. While she pulled them on, Fitz finished the bed only for Jemma to look at it in horror and shoo him off to check everything else while she fixed it.

* * *

Once the room was back in order Jemma raced down the stairs to join Fitz. The living room looked like everything was back in place. Fitz was standing in the middle spinning in circles trying to take it all in. “I think I’ve got it right.”

“Upstairs is good.”

“I’ve just got to set the lock back in place. Come on.” Jemma followed him out the back door her initial panic had worn off leaving her in an excited state, near laughing as she rushed him along.

“Fitz faster!”

“Don’t distract me now!”  She rolled her eyes at him. “Go around the house, they’ll be on foot, we won’t hear them pull up.” Jemma nodded. She looped around the house. The front yard was empty. An urge to get one last look at the facade of the house overwhelmed her and she stepped out into the yard to get a better view. She took her phone from her pocket and lifted it to snap one last picture. She was glad she was able to make one last memory in the house. It very well may be her favorite.

Voices startled her from behind as they came up the walk. Fitz still hadn’t joined her.

“Oh hello, can I help you miss?” A woman walking just a bit ahead of a couple asked.

“Oh uh-“

“If you’re interested in the house, I can arrange a showing for you for later this afternoon.”

“Oh, no, no um.”

“I warn you, we love this house already.” The woman of the pair announced. “We don’t want to have to end up in a bidding war.”

Jemma laughed nervously. “No, no, I’m afraid I won’t be trying to buy a house for quite some time, but it is beautiful, I could certainly see myself living in one just like this someday.” Jemma looked back at the house. She could picture it, a pretty cottage, a couple little children, her and Fitz walking down to the bakery or sipping tea on the back porch.

“Well should you be in need of my services.” The woman handed her a business card.

_Inevitable Reality. Finding you the home that was just meant to be._

“Thank you.” Behind the small group Jemma saw Fitz run out from the backyard. They locked eyes for a moment and Jemma thought for sure he was going to try to run to her aid and talk them out of some mess but through some silent communication he disappeared behind a nearby tree.

They met down by the road. Fitz was laughing hysterically, doubled over and clutching his knees for balance.

“Jemma don’t worry, no one will ever know we were here, Jemma who’s going to show up, your parents said they moved to America what are the chances they’d come here, oh Jemma-“ He cut her off with a kiss. When they broke apart she still glared at him although she was too amused to be taken seriously. “We are damn lucky that you can’t go more than a few hours without your stomach taking over or else they would have walked right in on us, we’d be sitting in a jail cell.”

“Jemma.”

“What?”

“I had an amazing night.”

“Me too Fitz, thank you.”

She looked at him, enjoying the way he stared dopily back at her. Then she was laughing too. Laughing so much tears formed in the corner of her eyes. Laughing as he kissed her again and again. It only subsided when she thought back to her brief moment outside the house, imagining her and Fitz having their own one day.

They hadn’t known each other that long. She shouldn’t already be thinking like that, it was too soon.

Fitz took her hand. “I left our tea behind. We should probably go get it.” Tingles surged through her arm. Maybe it was too soon but right then she didn’t care.

* * *

 

On the car ride back to Fitz’s mother’s house Jemma spent a good while staring at the quick picture she had snapped on her phone. “I’m going to miss it so much.”

“Maybe it won’t be the last time you see it.”

“Even if it’s not, it won’t be the same, I should have taken more pictures.”

“You mean like these.” Fitz handed her his phone and she opened it to the gallery. Inside were ten or twelve pictures from the house. The height chart, the kitchen table, the little room she shared with her sister and the big room she had shared with him for just the one night.

“I kind of wanted to take a memento but figured you’d have my arse for stealing.”

“This is enough Fitz.” She said as she flipped through the pictures a second time. “This is perfect.”


	10. Chapter 10

“I cannot believe that Jemma, I can’t be involved in your bad girl shenanigans, Simmons broke into, had sex in and spent the night at someone else’s house!” Daisy was on what Jemma could only describe as a gleeful rampage. Since the moment Jemma had walked in the door, ready to crash from jetlag only to be roped into recounting her spring break, the girl had not let up.  Finally, because she had to if she intended to get any sleep at all, she went into detail.

“You make it sound so scandalous, I knew the owner’s or at least I used too, I spent months of my life in that house, it was practically a second home.”

“And now all those beautiful family memories are replaced with memories of crazy amazing sex with your boyfriend.” Jemma was going to regret going into particular detail about her and Fitz vacation. “And,” Daisy added elatedly, “thoughts of buying one of your own to share with him so that you can have sex whenever you want in it.”

“That reminds me.” Jemma reached into her night stand for the recorder. “You’re still in trouble with me for taking this out of by bag.”

“Oh but no thank you for the cute underthings, I bet Fitz is glad I made the trade.”

Jemma lowered the recorder she had raised to speak into, intending to go over her thoughts on commitment so soon. She stopped when a nagging thought overpowered her.

“Do you think it’s okay that I’m doing this, the paper I mean?”

Daisy stopped her pacing and sat down at the end of them bed. “I think so, you’re really into him, you’re not stringing him along and lots of people write about their personal experience in papers, it adds to it, ask any English professor.” Jemma still turned the recorder uncertainly in her hands. “Besides, he’s a scientist just like you and this is for science and you said he agreed, all’s fair in love and science.”

“I wouldn’t say that’s exactly what he agreed to but I guess you’re right.” She set the recorder down. “I should just get started on the draft, Dr. Garner will be expecting it soon.”

* * *

 “Miss Simmons you go above and beyond, your notes on this assignment are thorough and enthralling, you should consider a career in writing although you’ll need a dedicated editor to cut out a few thousand words, remember I’m only looking for entry level work, this exceeds the work of some of my PhD students.” Jemma beamed back at Dr. Garner across his desk where her notes, draft and diagrams were spread out for observation. She hadn’t realized how much data she had complied on her relationship until it was all arranged in front of her, it was substantial.

“I guess I found the subject more interesting than I originally anticipated.” And his praise revived her dedication to the paper.

“That’s always good to hear, I will go over this with a closer eye and make some suggestions, have it back to you by the end of the week so you can put together the final draft.” He set all of her papers and recordings aside. “In the meantime if you have really developed an interest in the psychology of love then you may want to attend some of the presentations by my pupils for student achievement day, I’ve selected a variety of views points to be represented.”

“That sounds like fun, I will definitely try to make it.”

“Any presentations of yours I may want to attend?” He asked kindly.

“There is a display for a group project I worked on but otherwise I’m taking the year off.”

He nodded knowingly. “Preparing for your valedictorian speech?”

Jemma fiddled with the books in her lap. “I’m afraid if I get up on stage any sooner I’ll just start spouting it off.”

“The anticipation is getting to you?”

“Just a bit.”

“Give yourself something to look forward to after that, not a job or apartment search or anything like that, something easy going, a trip or event.” He suggested as Jemma gathered her things to leave. “It will help spread your focus, hopefully make the speech less daunting.” Jemma thanked him for the advice and removed her phone from her pocket as she left the room. She had just the event in mind.

* * *

 

“Hunter is this really necessary?”

“Yes, I told you already, Dr. Garner wants to hear it from the source that the girl is in love with you, that the method truly works and you said yourself that it did.”

Fitz slowed. When he had gotten back from the trip Hunter had hounded him for details and Fitz, delirious with happiness, was happy to give them. They both had come to the same conclusion, even if Fitz was more hesitant to do so. He was in love with her, there was no way to deny it, but all the signs screaming that she loved him back? That was a hard sell for him but as a man of science he couldn’t deny the facts.

He did however still hesitate to state it out loud especially to his old psychology professor.

“Why are you so set on this anyways, I’ve never seen you so invested in a school assignment?”

“Honest truth? Bob’s a nerd and she’s kind of loving dedicated student boyfriend so I figured I’d keep it up for a while, keep her happy, and there is the bonus of hearing you say I’m right and the eternal gratitude for hooking you up with the lovely Jemma.”

“Fitz?”

Jemma appeared all the way down at the other end of the hallway. “I thought I heard my name!” Fitz watched her run down the hall to them. She came to a stuttered halt in front of him. She looked on the verge of pouncing on him but restrained herself. “You haven’t got a class in this building have you?”

“Oh no, just accompanying Hunter.”

“Wonderful, are we still on for lunch?”

“Yeah, course.”

“Good, I thought I’d give those sandwiches another go, remember the one you liked so much, stayed up late perfecting my pesto aioli and I have a surprise for you, don’t make any plans for the Saturday after graduation.”

“Okay.” He pushed away his discomfort with PDA so that he could kiss her. She just looked so happy he couldn’t leave her hanging in limbo.  

She nearly skipped off down the hall. Fitz would have paid money to be able to leave with her.

“Come on man, she’s not even in sight anymore.” The strong shove to his shoulder knocked him out of his daze. “Let’s go Romeo.”

The two finally made it to Dr. Garner’s office just as the man was locking the door.

“Professor!” Hunter shouted.

“Mr. Hunter, Mr. Fitz long time no see, how goes the PhD?”

“I’ll have it by the end of the semester sir.” Fitz answered.

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

Formalities out of the way, although Dr. Garner was the type of teacher who did genuinely care, they moved on to the real matter at hand. “So I suppose you’re here to tell me that Mr. Hunter’s instructional paper either worked or it didn’t, what are the results?”

Fitz smiled, “I believe it did sir.”

“She’s told you she loves you.”

“Not explicitly sir,” Dr. Garner looked back at him skeptically, “but it feels like she does.”

Hunter quickly jumped in. “As a psychologist I’m sure you can understand that sometimes actions speak louder than words.”

“It did all happen very fast.”

“I believe you, don’t worry about it, Mr. Hunter can present at Student Achievement day, with all this work to grade I haven’t got time to pick another student anyways.”

“YES! I gotta call Bobbi.” 

* * *

 

It was still incredibly embarrassing. Hunter changed the title of the paper as promised and removed his name altogether from the work but still he knew that it was him Hunter would be talking about as soon as he got on stage. The only reason he was even there was because Hunter insisted on it. Made it a condition of their bet. He would have preferred to spend the day with Jemma. They had plans to meet up after for the demonstration in front of the science and technology building of the final prototype of his drones or DWARFS as they were now calling them. It would have been nice to grab lunch first.

But he decided to suffer through with little complaining. As soon as this presentation was over he could continue his relationship with Jemma without any bet looming over them, without having to adjust his actions. He hadn’t had any advice from Hunter the whole time they were home so he could certainly handle it on his own. She genuinely liked him, loved him even. So he would sit through the presentation and then hurry off to find the girl he loved. He would present the DWARFS, maybe even rope her into talking about them with him, she was better at articulating thoughts and ideas. Then maybe he could invite her to dinner to celebrate. He wanted to ask her about her plans for the summer, aside from the con tickets she had surprised him with at lunch the other day.

They both had work offers but neither of them had accepted anything yet. He wondered if it would be possible for them to work together. Their skills balanced out perfectly. Though mixing work and pleasure was typically frowned upon but he was certain they could be professional should the need arise.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket decided to review his presentation until it was time for Hunter’s presentation and perhaps even then too so he wouldn’t have to listen to it. Of course Fitz’s luck meant his phone battery was dying and he would have to take his phone down the hall to charge it in the student lounge. He stood to leave the auditorium, passing Bobbi as she entered.

“Hunter said you had to be here.” Bobbi said, stepping into his path. “I still can’t believe you got involved in this.”

“Well it’s all over now,” Fitz assured her. “And I promise I’ll be right back, I just have to charge my phone.”

“You better be or I’ll carry your butt back in here.” She called as he stepped around her.

* * *

 

“Bobbi!”

“Jemma!”

Jemma maneuvered her way through the row of seats, Daisy right behind her as they made their way to the tall blonde woman who had hopped up from her chair to greet them. “How are you I haven’t seen you in ages.”

“Busy of course, you know how much time those biology labs consume and of course the boyfriend wants attention when I’m not knee deep in samples.”

“Must be a lot of samples.” Daisy joked.

“Daisy! Bobbi this is my roommate Daisy, Daisy this is Bobbi, we had a few labs together.”

Bobbi extended her hand. “Fellow Biology student until Jemma bypassed the rest of us.”

Once they were seated Bobbi turned in her seat to speak to Jemma. “I haven’t seen much of you either, is it because you’ve added a third PhD in psychology?

Jemma shook her head and Daisy laughed. “No, I’m afraid it’s too late for that, I had to take a last minute psychology class for a general education credit, the subject really sparked an interest for me so Dr. Garner suggested I check out the presentations.”

“Oh well I hope it doesn’t disappoint.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Appeasing my boyfriend, he took a psych class last semester and he did really well on an assignment, surprised us both, school work is not exactly his forte.” Bobbi explained.

“What was the assignment on?” Daisy asked.

Bobbi sighed, a little bit of exasperation in her eyes. “Alright keep in mind that I don’t really approve of his topic of choice but wanted to encourage his interest in science.”

“Fair enough.” Jemma shrugged.

“He essential wrote a paper on how to fix a certain type of guy to make any girl fall in love with them.”

“Oh how arrogant!”

“Right? But he did do research,” Bobbi said, “And on top of that he made this ridiculous bet with his roommate so that he would have proof, had his roommate, sweet guy but a bit awkward, perfect test subject really, start going out with a girl and use his advice to make her fall in love with him.”

“Oh how-“ Jemma didn’t even know what to say, “well the poor girl.” To be fooled like that? To be dating someone who wasn’t being themselves but what someone else told them to be.

“Apparently it worked, she’s head over heels according to him.”

“But with someone fictional, someone who wasn’t acting as themselves, someone who deceived her.”

“Like I said I didn’t approve of the subject matter but didn’t want to discourage him.” Jemma frowned. She could understand Bobbi’s stance but how would it all work out for the pawn in there bet.

* * *

 

Fitz shouldn’t have been looking down at his phone while walking. He made a fuss when others did it for the very reason he found himself in then. Walking directly into some poor pedestrian and sending everyone’s belongings to the floor.

“Sorry, should have been paying better attention.”

“No harm Fitz.”

“Dr. Garner?” Fitz hadn’t realized. The man’s papers had fallen to all corners of the lobby, littering the floor. Thankfully most people had exited to the presentations. “Uh, let me help you with those.”

“Thank you,” Fitz nodded and dropped to his knees to start gathering as many papers as he could.

“Last minute work?” He asked gathering paper after paper.

Dr. Garner laughed. “It must look like put everything off doesn’t it, I wanted to attend the presentations  but one of my students has got me thoroughly invested in her assignment, I cannot put it down.”

Fitz was impressed, all this for just one assignment. “Must be a fascinating topic.”

“It is, much like your friend Mr. Hunter she took a surprising interest in the psychology of love and dedicated herself to a unique little experiment.”

“Oh?”

“You see she wanted to explore the Triangle Theory of Love, essentially testing how long it took to enter each stage of the triangle, you’re familiar.”

“Vaguely.” The name rang a bell but psychology had never been a favorite of his. Although it was far cleaner than the other science biology courses he’d been required to take.

“Well she started dating this young man and is adjusting outside circumstances to provide the ideal environment to fall in love, she tests her own reactions and his and makes notes, some of the situations she’s put this boy through are quite taxing and he has no idea.”

“I feel bad for the poor bloke.” Fitz kneeled down over another pile of papers, preparing to shuffle them into a neat stack when the name in the corner caught his attention.

Jemma Simmons. 

* * *

 

“The next presenter, Lance Hunter on his topic-The Key to Love is Confidence.”

Jemma perked up in her seat, as did Bobbi and Daisy on either side of her. She didn’t know Hunter was presenting. She would have thought Fitz would have mentioned such an accomplishment from his less studious roommate. “Oh there he is, I didn’t realize he would be presenting so soon.”

Jemma’s eyes snapped to Bobbi, “wait a minute, Hunter is your boyfriend?”

“Unfortunately. He couldn’t have picked a worse title could he, he’s been through at least three maybe four of them by now.”

Jemma’s heart beat faster in her chest, pounding so loudly she couldn’t hear a single word as Hunter began to speak; even her own sounded drowned out as she spoke them. “But, but Hunter’s roommate is Fitz?” Was there a chance it was an old roommate, surely Fitz wasn’t involved in this. Mack maybe? No, no one would ever describe Mack as akward.

“Yeah, honestly I’m surprised he’d get wrapped up in something like this, told him so just a bit ago, he was here somewhere, Hunter told him he had to be here as part of the bet.” Jemma’s vision was too blurred to try to look for him in the crowd. Her hands were shaking and she could feel Daisy’s hand on her arm, trying to get her attention.

“Jemma come on, we should go-“

She didn’t budge.

* * *

 

 

“This work, it’s not all for that one assignment is it?” Fitz asked, his throat going dry.

Dr. Garner laughed. “She’s very through.”

Fitz stared down at the papers in his hands. His eyes bounced from line to line, his heart beating faster and faster with each one.

_Subject B exhibits physical signs of attraction to Subject A, clammy hands, increased heart rate, flushed skin, stuttered words._

_According to an outside observer Subject B spends time thinking of and is happy to talk about Subject A. Everything from dinner dates to the security of the relationship are amongst the topics discussed with said observer._

Fitz starte at the paper, only pulling his eyes away when a recorder, the type used for voice notes, lying on the ground caught his attention. His hand shaking, he reached for it. He dropped it when he pressed play and her voice emitted from it.

_“Subject A, myself, Jemma K. Simmons, has selected Leopold Fitz, from here on referred to as Subject B, for an experiment in testing the accuracy of Psychologist Robert Sternberg’s Triangle Theory of Love and providing my own data to help fill the holes left in his research.”_

_Subject B._

_Subject B._

_Subject B._

Fitz stood, gripping the papers so firmly they wrinkled in his hands.

“Thank you Fitz, I’ll take-“ Dr. Garner held out his hand, obviously not having noticed the apathetic drone that was starting to fill the room, to take the papers. Fitz didn’t given them back. He turned on the spot not entirely sure where he was going until he was back in the auditorium. He wanted to shove them in Hunter’s face. He wanted scream and laugh and cry all at once because of course it wasn’t real. It was an experiment. All he was to her was a grade. 

He looked around the room, searching out Hunter only to see him on stage. The man had stopped speaking and was watching the isle as two people approached the stage. One of them stopped at the bottom the steps, she other marched up them and Fitz finally realized it was her. What the hell was she even doing there?

“No no, go on Hunter,” her voice cracking as it raised in volume, “I’m not here to stop you, just thought your presentation might go a little better with a visual aid and what better than the woman so shallow, so two-dimensional, that she could be manipulated to fall in love with any one.”

Chatter broke out amongst the audience and Jemma’s words rang through the room. If Fitz wasn’t so furious, if his hands weren’t already shaking and his stomach already twisted in pain he may have processed that she’d found out about the bet but he didn’t care, that was nothing compared to what she’d done.

She must have sensed him glaring down at her because suddenly she was locking eyes with him. A bitter smile was shot his way. “Perhaps we can make this even better Hunter, would you all like to meet the man I was so easily fooled by, proof that any guy can get any girl he wants because apparently we are all just little pawns, not worth a bit of respect, why don’t you come up on stage Fitz.”

In his completely irrational state of mind it seemed like a good idea so before he could stop himself he was on the stage too. Hunter said something to him, trying desperately to stop what was already bad from getting much worse. He may have listened too, had he not spotted Daisy trying just as desperately to get Jemma off the stage.

_A third party observer_. 

* * *

 

She should have listened to Daisy, should have let her pull her out of there before she could do something so ridiculously stupid as get up on stage in front of a room full of people and tell them that she was the idiot who had been duped. That she was so pathetic that she would fall in love with an act, a non-existent person. Because Leopold Fitz wasn’t who she thought he was, he was what Hunter’s paper told him to be.

“Ladies and gentleman, the second half of this sham of a relationship.”

“Don’t you d-dare, were do you get off--, when this—“ He waved a stack of papers clenched in his fist, in front of her face.

“What is that?”

“You don’t recognize your own work, these are pages out of the assignment you turned in, the one detailing what a damn idiot I am, excuse me, what an idiot Subject B is.”

“Where did you get those?!” How could he have possibly? Those went directly to Dr. Garner and weren’t to be shared with anyone without her permission.

“Doesn’t matter, you have no right to—You used me for an experiment, this whole relationship was for a grade, what were you going to do once you received it? Toss me aside. Oh I’ve got my A now Fitz I don’t need you anymore.”

“Give those back to me NOW!”

“Why should I, they’re all about me, I think I deserve to know what you wrote, what else is in here, I saw the bit about how you’ve got your friend spying on me, and how I’m so bloody attracted to you I can control my own bodily reactions, what else is there, I’m sure you’ve gone into great detail about how I am in the sack.”

Jemma lunged for the papers and Fitz quickly pulled them out of reach. “That assignment was private and for scientific pursuit, you used me to win a bet, and I never pretended to be anyone I wasn’t unlike you.”

“Well you won’t have to put up with me anymore because I never want to see you again, here-“ He shoved the papers into her hands, “-I hope you get an A.”

And then he was gone. He jumped off the stage and stormed out of the room, past Dr. Garner who stood by the door looking back a Jemma apologetically, the rest of her assignment gathered in his hands. Jemma turned and ran off the stage. Pushing past Daisy and Bobbi who had joined her. She took the side door out of the auditorium and found herself in an empty hallway where she could collapse against the wall and cry in peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I lied in the tags. Its really more than just a little bit of angst.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a while to go up because I wasn't sure if I wanted to split up this chapter or not. It was tough to find an appropriate breaking point.

She couldn’t drag herself to class the next day. Nothing needed her attention enough to warranty getting out of bed so that was where she stayed, curled up in her bed, ignoring the constant pings on her phone notifying her of text messages. She'd glanced at a few, they were mostly from minor acquaintances who wanted to get the story of what happened straight from the source. Eventually she turned the phone off and hid it in the drawer of her nightstand. 

“Jemma.” Daisy knocked gently on her bedroom door for the third time already that morning. Jemma pulled the blanket tighter around her but she knew  she would have to let the girl in to the room at some point. If not she would find her own way in. “Jemma, Bobbi’s here to see you, can we please come in, we’re worried about you.”

She really didn’t want to see anyone. Word had spread fast about the blow up in the middle of the student achievement presentations and on just the short walk from the psychology building to her apartment she received stares, some of pity, some of blame, all unwelcome. Despite this she sat up, patting down her hair and adjusting her shirt. “Okay.” She croaked. Damn crying had done a number on her throat.

Daisy must have been startled by the go ahead, it took her a moment to actually turn the door knob. “Hey,” she poked her head in. “If you’re not up for visitors we can come back later.”

Jemma shook her head, if she was left to her own devices any more she’d only dig herself deeper into a hole of self-loathing. “You don’t have to, I’m fine.” Daisy smiled back at her sympathetically and entered followed by Bobbi who gave her own tentative smile. Jemma had already been subjected to many unnecessary apologies from her blonde friend. Jemma knew that if Bobbi had know it was her involved in the bet she would have said something or stopped it.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“How are you feeling?

“Pretty awful actually,” she stopped, wondering if she should voice the thoughts that had plagued her since her confrontation with Fitz. Holding it in was only making her restless and angry. “I didn’t realize how poorly he would take it, I didn’t think what I did was so wrong, I don’t speak negatively of him in the paper, just very objectively and I wasn’t pretending anything when I was with whereas with him I don’t know that I know anything about him.”

That was what was most important right? He lied about who he was.

She only wrote an objective analysis of a relationship that she was genuinely invested in.

Then why did she feel so awful?

“I can tell you about him.”  Bobbi said, she took a seat on the end of her bed.

Jemma looked up.

“Fitz, I mean, I know him pretty well.” Bobbi’s offer was tempting. But she didn’t know what she would do with the information once she had it. Regardless she gave a short nod, urging Bobbi to continue. “He’s very sensitive and insecure, but he’s one of the nicest guys I know, loyal and kind and determined and probably the _smartest_ person I know-aside from you of course. When I told you I was surprised he would get involved with something like what he did I wasn’t kidding but seeing as how it was to help Hunter out, I’m a little more understanding as to why he would go through with it.”

Jemma frowned. That sounded just like the Fitz she knew.

“I’m not saying it makes it okay, Hunter for sure is in the dog house, but-well this is a copy of his paper that I proof read before he turned it in to Dr. Garner and if you read it I think you might feel better about the whole thing, maybe, you can still hate them both and I wouldn’t blame you but I kind of have the feeling that you’d appreciate a way to not hate them.” Bobbi held out the folded pile of papers to Jemma who only took them and set them aside.

Maybe she would look at them later. Bobbi was right, she didn’t want to hate him. But what could that paper possibly say that would make her feel any better. 

* * *

 

Late that evening, when she still couldn’t sleep, she stared at the rumpled papers on her nightstand.  It couldn’t hurt to read them over. Just so it stopped looming in the back of her mind. Even if it didn't change anything she could at least get some sleep. She clicked on the lamp and picked up the papers.

_How to Fix a Fitz **(Oh my god HUNTER does Fitz know you did this?)**_

A grin pulled at her lips.

_You probably think this is going to be just another paper by some bloke about why a he can’t get a woman, well I’ll tell you right now that it’s not. And I’m also not here to tell you how to fix what they’re doing wrong, arrogant bastards probably don’t deserve a girl anyways. But I’ll tell you who does, guys like my mate Fitz. Truly a great guy, one of a kind in many ways, unfortunately he has got something in common with a pathetic bit of the population and that is crippling insecurity. Fitz, he’s really got a lot going for him, smart, good looking, genuine guy. So what’s his problem, why can’t he get the girl, he’s just got to be himself right. Right. **(You do realize you're going to have to take his name out unless you tell him?)**_

Jemma rolled her eyes but continued reading.

_Unfortunately Fitz doesn’t think much of himself. Sure he’s pretty damn arrogant about his brains, rightfully so I suppose. But in other aspects he spends too much of his time comparing himself to others. I’ve told him a number of times that if he would just cut that out he’d be much better off. But its not that easy for him so I’ve thought up a few more tactics so he wouldn’t have to spend his entire life alone._

_First he’s got to start with a girl he likes; Fitz is a good guy and he’d never not consider a girl because she was-_ Jemma couldn’t make out the word Hunter had typed under the red scribble and note _**‘pick a different word’**_ that Bobbi had left- _but he likes a beautiful girl, who doesn’t, but she’s got to really wow to leave an a real impression on him. Once he’s off his ass and introduces himself he’s got to talk to her, he ought to try talking to her like she’s a guy if that makes him more comfortable. If your sitting there in front of her shifting and hesitating she’s going to, maybe find it endearing, or its going to make her uncomfortable. If he talks with her easily she can reciprocate. He overthinks a lot of what he says, maybe a side effect of being a genius, when he should just blurt it out. It may not always work, for example if he’s thinking about her boobs he should keep his mouth shut._

A note in Bobbi’s neat handwriting suggested he remove the last sentence.

Hunter had returned it with big letters. ‘HE ASKED FOR BLOODY EXAMPLES!’

A second note from Bobbi-‘not that type of example.’

Afraid she'd wake Daisy, Jemma covered her mouth with her pillow to stifle her giggles. Unfortunately she was outright laughing by the time she finished the paper. Bobbi’s corrections and commentary had lifted her spirits. Hunter’s snarky replies made it even better. Both were a nice distraction from the self-loathing that had doubled in weight.

Fitz had bet against the method working. That was what she had been able to gather from Bobbi. And the method was simply to act as himself without the walls he built around him. To have a little more confidence in how great he was. He had bet _against_ the idea that he could win over any girl.

It was still a bet and she was still a pawn. But he was himself and what had upset her the most, truthfully, was that Fitz, the one she loved, wasn’t real.

And she was now the one in the wrong. Because when she looked at what she had done, not with an objective eye but as someone it had happened to, it was terrible. Writing about him without his permission. Referring to him as Subject B like he was a sample in a petri dish and not a person to be cared about. Putting him through things that made him uncomfortable just for the sake of a school assignment. It was absolutely deplorable.

Setting the paper aside she sunk down into her bed, staring up at the ceiling, considering how to proceed. She couldn't change what she did but perhaps there was a way to make it a little better. 

* * *

 

“So there’s no way?” Jemma asked, the dread evident in her voice.

“I’m sorry Miss Simmons but there is simply not time to regrade an entire assignment of this scale.” He gestured to the large pile of notes she had come to gather while she inquired about changing her topic.

“Dr. Garner, you were there, you saw what this did to Fitz, I couldn’t live with myself knowing how humiliated he was by it.”

“And I’m very sorry for my part in that,” he apologized for what must have been the tenth time. He could probably get into a lot of trouble with the university if she filed a complaint. “Jemma you just did this assignment in the pursuit of science, you said yourself that he would understand that; maybe he just needs time.”

“That’s what I believed at first but I was wrong and I hurt him and I really did care for him.”

“Did?” Dr. Garner clasped his hands together in front of him, switching seamlessly from teacher to psychologist.

Jemma hesitated. “Do, did, I don’t know, I’m still angry with him for what he did but I know he meant no harm the same as me.” She couldn’t just eliminate what happened as much as she would have liked to. She wanted nothing more than to pick up where they left off in Perthshire but how could they ever go back to that when he felt so betrayed.

“Perhaps you can go a different route with the data you have.” Jemma nodded and stood to leave. “I’ll need the final copy by Tuesday.”

“Alright.”

Outside the office Daisy waited, shooting up from the spot against the wall when the door opened. “How did it go? Is he going to let you switch topics?”

Jemma shook her head. “He says there is no time and even if there was it wouldn’t be fair to the other students if he allowed me to.”

“So what now?”

Jemma blinked rapidly as her eyes became wet. She had only two options and neither were great. “I turn it in and risk Fitz never speaking to me again or I don’t turn it in _and_ I don’t pass the class and there is still a chance Fitz doesn’t ever speak to me again.”

Daisy cringed. “But without the class you won’t graduate.” Oh she would graduate, just late, after she made up the class in summer school. After she missed her opportunity to give the graduation speech she had worked on for most of her life. The one that meant so much to her. How could she give that up? “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t think I have a choice.”

* * *

Fitz has requested they change the date of his drone presentation. He didn’t want to go into detail but told his professor it was for personal reasons and he conceded. Now as he set up for the presentation he wished that he had just gotten the whole thing out of the way. And silently he wished he had Jemma was there to set up for Sneez-Dwarf 5’s demonstration. She had suggested the whole thing. Setting up samples for it to sniff out. He shuddered. Blood sample, urine sample, the vanilla sample. As he removed them each from their case he was tempted to toss that one altogether. It had nothing to do with forensics anyways. Unfortunately, his only other option was the perfume sample which was also Jemma’s. He couldn’t ditch that one, it actually was valid in forensics. He’d have to alter the demo though, the dwarf was originally going to sniff out the sample and then sniff out Jemma as a “suspect.” They had the banter all planned out.

A small crowd had gathered in the courtyard. Fitz placed a sample by the foot of a tree, on the wall of the fountain, he handed one to his professor and buried the last in a bush.

The presentation went well, lots of ooing and ahhing. Professor Radcliff was more than pleased by the fourth drone, he easily could have ended the demonstration there with more than a passing grade. But Sneez-Dwarf 5 was a real engineering feat so he pressed on.

The drone zoomed happily over the heads of the on lookers inciting giggles from a few girls. Fitz made a show of presenting each sample which sent the same girls and a few guys fleeing backwards. The vanilla sent got a smile from the crowd and then the perfume had its turn. The drone easily located it in the bush, even heavily covered.

“I selected perfume as a sample to show farther versatility, in searching for victims or even possible suspects.” The drone clicked a few times before zooming into the crowd and disappearing from sight. Fitz followed in curiously, wondering where it had disappeared to. The crowd parted and Fitz spotted the drone circling around the one person he both wanted to see and didn’t want to see. Jemma stood with her arms crossed in front of her protectively and she smiled up at Sneezy as he buzzed around her, a gentle ping indicating that she was wearing the same perfume as the sample.

“Well look at that, I guess I’m the bad guy.” She said turning her eyes on him as she recited their rehearsed script. Then she surprised him and adlibbed. “Would you believe me if I said I didn’t realize what i was doing was wrong?” She tried for a small smile and then quickly diverted her eyes. “But that doesn’t excuse it does it?”

Fitz stared at her, frozen in place. Was this her way of apologizing? He wasn’t sure. Claiming that she didn’t realize her fault. Around him whispers started through the crowd. Those who had heard about what went down on stage the other day. He felt his cheeks starts to flush even though he couldn’t make out any of the chatter. He deserved more of an apology than that, just for the humiliation. Clenching his hands to keep them from shaking he replied.

 “No it doesn’t.”

* * *

 

His day remained awful. He hadn’t realized he’d been scheduled to work with Daisy that night or he would have found an excuse to not go in. By the time he walked in and spotted her it was too late to turn around. She gave him a weak smile but didn’t say anything. He chose not to look at her for the majority of the evening and when it came time to clock out he raced for the door.

“Fitz!”

He didn’t have to stop. Hell he had the right not to. But he did. “Yeah?”

“Look I know you probably don’t want to hear this but Jemma really is sorry how all this went down and I am too.”

“Yeah well I’m sure, I mean I wasn’t supposed to know and that probably caused a little hitch in her thesis.” He said curtly.

“That’s not-“ He watched her fists clench in frustration. “You know what, what you did wasn’t any better and you didn't even attempt to apologize,” she snapped back. His temper flared. He had his own retort on the tip of his tongue when Daisy marched passed him. “If you two can’t work this out and see that you were both so genuinely into each other, so god damn perfect for each other, well than I give up, be miserable, what do I care.”

Fitz watched her stomp down the hall until she was out of sight. Her voice rang in his head long after she was gone. He knew he wasn’t completely innocent in all of this.  The bet had been a terrible idea but when he got involved he never expected it to play out the way it did. He honestly never thought he’d make it past the first day and when he did he was already too far gone to back out.

Maybe he should have forgiven her. If there was any truth behind Daisy’s words. That despite Jemma’s own agenda she genuinely cared for him as well. If they could both agree they were in the wrong then they could put all this behind them and start over. But it was too unlikely and if they did try but and didn’t work out and he had to feel what he was feeling then all over again? It would be unbearable.

It was better not to bother. There would be less pain for both of them.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting this real quick. I've only got one chapter left and maybe an epilogue unless I combine the two. Its nearly done, I can't believe it. I'm actually very proud of this fic. Please enjoy this next chapter and look for the final one very very soon. :)

Fitz did everything he could to put Jemma out of his mind for the last little bit of school. It was a constant mantra of ‘it’ll be easier soon.’ He just needed to get off the campus and somewhere new so that everything didn’t remind him so much of her. He was poised to except the best job offer as far away as possible.

When the graduation ceremony rehearsal finally rolled around he was breathing easier knowing that that would be a reality soon. The empty pit in his stomach he wrote off as nerves and had nothing to do with the fact that he wouldn’t even see her in passing anymore. Not in the lab, not at the coffee shop, not anywhere.

“Mr. Fitz!”

Fitz turned to find his faculty advisor hastily making his was towards him. “Professor Coulson, how are you sir?”

“In a bit of a panic actually, have you met Dr. Weaver?”

Shaking his head, Fitz reached forward to shake the woman’s hand. “Afraid not, must not have taken any of your classes.”

“Shame, she’s an excellent teacher.” Coulson said distractedly.

“And I’ve been told you’re an excellent student.” Dr. Weaver responded. Not sure how to react to the praise Fitz nodded at her.

“So why the last minute introduction?” Fitz asked.

“Dr. Weaver just informed me that we are in need of a valedictorian to give a speech during graduation. You see one of her students was supposed to have done it, but due to a last minute change we are having to make alternate plans.”

Fitz’s eyes narrowed. “What change, why isn’t Jemma giving the speech.” The two professors exchanged a look and Fitz felt his heartrate pick up. There was nothing he could think of that would have stopped her from presenting. Had she been hurt? Was it her grandmother? It must have been serious; Jemma wouldn’t miss graduation for anything less than a tragedy.

“That’s not information we can share.” Dr. Weaver said calmly.

“We just need confirmation that you’ll be able to do it.” Coulson explained gravely.

“Yeah, whatever you need, I’ve got to go.”

Fitz rushed off into the crowd of students searching for Daisy. She would know what was going on, she would know if Jemma was okay. More than once he had to physically push past someone but eventually he found Daisy chatting with the tall boy he’d seen a few times at the Tech Center. “DAISY!”

She spun around surprised but that faded immediately when she saw him, like she was expecting this moment to come.  “She’s not here Fitz.”

“No, I know that, where is she?”

“Back at the apartment I guess.” Daisy shrugged.

“She’s alright?” He demanded.

“She’s fine, well I don’t know that fine is the word I’d use but –“

“Is it her grandmother, I know she’s ill-“

Daisy finally gave him the better part of her attention, drawn in by what she must have realized was panic. “Everyone is alive and well Fitz, where did you get the idea that they weren’t?”

Fitz faltered. The relief that tore through him was brief. If she was alive and well then why-- “Why isn’t she here?” Daisy didn’t immediately reply. “Daisy they just asked me to give the speech tomorrow and we both know how important that is to her so please tell me why she’s not here, why she’s not giving it.”

“She didn’t turn in her assignment.”

“What?”

“Her psychology assignment, you know _the assignment_ , it was basically her entire grade the way she and Dr. Garner set it up. So when she refused to turn it in he had nothing to grade, no grades, you fail, she needed the psych credit in order to graduate.”

“Then why the hell didn’t she turn it in?”

Daisy just stared back at him like he was stupid. “Really, you have to ask, and he’s next in line to give the valedictorian speech.” She said to her companion. Fitz could feel his temper rising and stomped away before he could shout. Why could no one just give him a straight answer? He was just going to have to go straight to the source. The auditorium hosting the graduation ceremony wasn’t far from her apartment complex and before he knew it he was outside her door. Or at least he hoped it was her door. He never seen it. Course now he knew why.

He rapped loudly on the door, obnoxiously enough that the neighbors would probably start opening theirs to yell at him. He didn’t care

“I’m coming alright!” The door swung open and Fitz watched as dread washed over her features. She looked ready to slam the door on him and considering his recent attitude he wouldn’t blame her if she did. “I- um- did you need something?” She asked. He did, didn’t he? He had come there for some reason but for the briefest of moments he couldn’t remember what it was. When he didn’t say anything she continued to talk. “I found a sweater earlier when I was cleaning, I think it’s yours, and I’m sure I have other things.”

She turned back into the apartment, leaving the door open for him, and began to fuss around the living room. She started at a bookshelf and pulled down a couple textbooks. “Umm, there are quite a number of them, might take a few trips-“

“Jemma-“

“Oh the tools I borrowed, they’re kitchen.” She zipped back past him towards the small kitchen.

“Jemma that’s not why I’m here.” She didn’t listen.

“I bought this cookbook for you, Easy Ways to Eat Healthy, it was kind of a joke but you can still take it.” She flipped the book in her hands, reading the back.

“Well that was, you didn’t have to but that’s not why I’m-”

“Right! The sweater is in the laundry basket, I’ll just grab that, no worries I’ve already washed it.” She began to dig through the basket sitting on the couch.

“Jemma!”

His shout broke her out of her trance. “Yes?”

“Why didn’t you turn in your assignment?” He said lowering his voice.

She stared at him for a moment, not saying anything. “I chose not to.”

“But why?”

“I don’t think it’s any of your business.” Jemma said. “How do you even know anyways?”

“They asked me to give a speech at graduation, said the valedictorian couldn’t do it, god Jemma I thought something awful had happened to you.”

 “And you would have cared?”

“Yes I would have cared! Can you please stop with the laundry Jemma I don’t care about the sweater, just keep it.”

“Fine!” Jemma pushed away the basket.

“Why didn’t you turn in the assignment?”

“I couldn’t okay, I tried to rewrite it, I tried to make what I did less awful but I couldn’t, you were right, I humiliated you, I asked Daisy to lie to you for information, I wrote about our personal lives in a school assignment without your permission, I put you in certain situations to try and provoke reactions, situations that I knew you wouldn’t enjoy -”

“But you won’t graduate without the psychology credit.”

She crossed her arms. “I see your speaking to Daisy again.”

“She may have considered it accosting her.” Fitz muttered

. “You’re changing the subject, this was your graduation you have been talking about this since the moment we met.”

“I’ll still graduate, after I retake the class in the summer.”

“In the summer ceremony though, that’s--that’s miniscule, not worthy of how hard you worked, it’s not even in the major auditorium, they use a classroom and a platform stage.” Jemma didn’t say anything. “It’s not what you wanted, your brother told me about your high school graduation, I know you want a second chance.”

“Now that _really_ wasn’t any of your business!”

“And your speech, your speech is so good and everyone should be able to hear it, the whole graduating class, their families, all of the professors, it means so much, it’s everything to you.”

“And your more than that!” She snapped back.

He froze.

“Or you were, whatever, it hurt you and I’m not turning it in.”

“Jemma please.”

“I’ve got laundry to fold.” She gathered up her basket and disappeared down the hall. “You can let yourself out.” Fitz flinched as her door slammed. He looked around the living room hoping some inspiration would strike him. That he could somehow convenience her she needed to do this all while drowning out her words that echoed in his head.

When he realized he was going to have to retreat and regroup before he could convince her of anything he started to leave only to be stopped by an unusually messy pile of papers on the coffee table. They could have belonged to Daisy, but even then Jemma would have compulsively straightened it at some point. On top was a paper labeled: _Navigating the Triangle-An Analysis of the Triangle Love Theory_. He picked up the stack. A few pages down there was another title page: _Equilateral, Isosceles, Scalene-Triangle Theory_. And another: _The Guide to Losing the Guy_. The rewrites of her paper that she had mentioned. And beneath all that a copy of her speech. It wasn’t the old one that sat in her organizer but a fresh copy, prepared for the big event. It was pristine except for wrinkled patches with blurred print. The kind caused by water droplets, or teardrops.

It hit Fitz then. If she wouldn’t turn the paper in, he would just do it for her. He couldn’t let her lose this opportunity over him. He wasn’t worth it.

* * *

“Dr. Garner, Dr. Garner, it Fitz, Leopold Fitz are you there?” He knocked a second time on the door. After a moment the door opened and Fitz came face to face with an intimidating Asian woman. “Oh, um hello, is uh, Dr. Garner here, I need to speak with him, urgently.”

The woman’s dark eyes bore into him for a minute before she stepped aside. “I told you we should have gone straight home.”

“I’m sure Mr. Fitz won’t take up too much time Melinda, he’s not even one of my current students.”

“You have no current students Andrew, classes have ended.”

“You are right, of course, he’ll be the last one and then I will meet you at the car.”

“If you say so.”

Fitz stepped aside so she could exit. “Please excuse her Fitz, she is very eager for our summer to begin, we have plans to go to Hawaii.”

“Sounds fun Sir.”

Dr. Garner smiled and nodded. “I’m sure you have big plans for the summer as well, guess I had better answer whatever questions you may have so we can both me on our way.”

“I don’t have a question sir, I’m here to give you Jemma Simmons psychology assignment.”

Dr. Garner rose an eyebrow in surprise. “Really, because Miss Simmons told me that she did not have one to turn in, I had an inkling that that wasn’t the case but she insisted.”

“It’s because of me sir, she, she didn’t turn it in because I was angry at her over it, but it is done, she’s written it three times over and each is better than the last and they’re even edited and typed and annotated.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“I’m sure you don’t have to read them all, just one, so you can give her a grade.”

Dr. Garner frowned. “Unfortunately Fitz, I cannot do that.”

“Why not?”

“Grades have already been turned in.” He said simply.

“But she needs this grade to pass, she needs your class to graduate.” Fitz replied desperately.

“I’m well aware of the situation.”

“Then grade it so she can.”

“I’m afraid there is nothing I can do, even if I grade it, everything is already set, grades, graduation.”

“But-“

“I’m sorry Mr. Fitz, I’ve got to go now.” He gestured for Fitz to step out of the office. He stayed cemented in place, if he was just stubborn enough, he just had to hold his ground, Garner wouldn’t just leave him standing there and he couldn’t lock him in the office for the entire summer. “There is really nothing I can do.”

“She deserves to graduate.”

“More than any student I’ve ever seen, which is why I will be there this summer when she does.”

Fitz’s shoulder’s sagged in defeat. “I guess I’ll see you then.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is is! The final chapter. I absolutely love this story, I'm so fricking proud of it, I can't believe it. Thank you everyone who had read this, I appreciate every single one of you.

It was bittersweet sitting in the stands of the auditorium. She had dreamed about this day with ever increasing frequency as it approached up until about four days ago when she went to Dr. Garner and told him she didn’t have a paper to turn in even though they both knew she was lying. She had tried desperately to write a paper that didn’t make her feel awful for what she had done. She tried to write the paper not using any information she gained from him, instead focusing solely on her own feelings but it quickly became too personal and thinking of Fitz only upset her. She tried to write one using experience with past boyfriends but none of them lasted through more than the romantic side of the triangle. She tried for irony, turning the paper into a comical ‘how to lose a guy’ parody of the triangle but it strayed too far from her subject to even be considered.

She had no option. She just couldn’t turn anything in. She would have to retake the class again and she vowed to follow whatever lesson plan was already set, no matter how mind numbingly boring it may be.

Now she was at the auditorium, in the section roped off not for students but for family and friends. She was there for Daisy. Her roommate had worked incredibly hard to get her degree and Jemma wanted to be a part of it. Despite Daisy insisting she didn’t have to come if she wasn’t comfortable with it. Jemma had only scoffed and continued to get ready.

When the processional began she smiled down at the line. Daisy would be towards the middle of the group followed shortly by Bobbi. Fitz would be in the next group, the grad students and the doctorate students. She couldn’t pick any of them out in the line because of the robes and caps.

She listened to every professor who was scheduled to speak, checking the program they had given her to see who was up next. She was looking forward to the guest speaker since there wouldn’t be one at her own graduation. Unfortunately, that didn’t come until after the valedictorian speech which was coming ever closer.

She felt kind of bad; Fitz had had no time at all to put together a speech and he didn’t care much for public speaking. But there he was standing up to make his way towards the podium with note cards in hand. She hadn’t really looked at him since her confession yesterday. Averting her eyes until she marched out of the room. Now she looked directly at him but only because he wouldn’t be able to pick her out in the crowd.

“Um, hello everyone.” Fitz started. “I’m really sorry in advance, I had to come up with something kind of last minute, hopefully our guest speaker just overshadows all of this.” He fussed with the cards in his hands and forced a smile onto his face. Jemma felt her own lips tip up in a more genuine smile.

“I wouldn’t say that I have had the most traditional of educational experiences and believe it or not there was a time when I almost didn’t have one at all. My mum, she encouraged me to pursue it even when I didn’t want to and I couldn’t be more thankful for that. Once I was here in the states and she was still back home I had to find my motivation elsewhere and the best way to do that and what I think is one of the most important things about university is making the friends that keep you going. They are there for you on a bad day, or struggling through a difficult assignment, or when the idea of what you’re going to do with your life after here is weighing down on you. I made some good friends pretty early on but it was just in this last semester that I met someone whose dedication to schoolwork and passion for what she was studying surpassed any I had ever seen and just being around her made me work harder and motivated me and reminded me of the passion I had for my own course of study.”

Jemma was sure that someone had pointed a spotlight on her. She suddenly felt very warm and despite the hundreds of people that were supposed to camouflage her, Fitz managed to pick her out in the stands.

“She couldn’t be here today, even though this was probably the moment she’s been looking forward to more than anything and even though her education means so much to her. She proved to be an even more impressive human being by putting someone she cared about ahead of all of that.”

Jemma brought a hand up to her mouth to cover a small gasp. Tears had sprung to her eyes as soon as she realized he was talking about her. It wasn’t until he began to read from the cards and her own words filled the stadium that they spilled over. Listening to the speech, rather than reading it, sent her to a whole new level of emotion and only doubled when the applause broke out as he finished.

Once the cheering died down Fitz managed to get in just a few more words. “It’s a great speech but it’s not mine you guys, so I don’t want any praise for it but if you see her around campus be sure to let Jemma know how much you liked it.”

By the time the ceremony was over Jemma didn’t even remember who the guest speaker had been. She only had one thought on her mind and that was cornering Fitz and having an actual discussion. Not a screaming match, not apologies veiled behind rehearsed words, not with an assignment or bet looming over them.

Everyone was pouring out into the courtyard after the end processional. The crowd was thick with students hugging and crying and cheering. Then parents were filing out too, uniting with their offspring, more crying. How Jemma was supposed to find anyone in this mess she didn’t know. One woman actually grabbed her from behind, mistaking her for her own daughter until she realized she wasn’t wearing a robe.

“Daisy!” Jemma shouted when her roommate came into view. The girl pulled away from the tight embrace she had been sharing with Lincoln.  

“Jemma, I’ve been looking for you, did you hear the speech, it was yours!”

“Yes, I know, well mostly mine he did add that lovely bit at the beginning, but yes it was, have you seen Fitz, I really need to speak to him.” She rambled.

She shook her head. “I haven’t, but do you think it means he’s not upset anymore?”

“I don’t know, but maybe, I can hope right?”

“You’ve forgiven him then.”

“I think we both let this get rather out of hand-Oh!” A head of curly hair passed not far away and Jemma sprinted after it. When she caught up she discovered not just Fitz but his mother too, standing not far from the fountain in the center of the courtyard. She slowed down her approach. She hadn’t quite worked out what she was going to say to him. His mum was making a fuss, straightening his robe and smiling. She felt a pang of disappointment. Her parents had been surprised by the news of her delayed graduation but hadn’t inquired into it too much, just changed their tickets and told her they were proud of her.

Suddenly she met Evelyn’s eyes and then she was informing Fitz of her presence. He turned around and Jemma watched as he excused himself from her and approached with a tentative smile. “Hey.”

“Hi.”

Say something Jemma, say anything.

“This is yours.” He reached into his suit jacket and handed over a pile of papers. “I sort of borrowed it?”

Jemma unfolded the papers to see her speech. “I noticed, you changed a bit though.”

“Didn’t want to get in trouble for plagiarism, they really crack down on that sort of thing around here.”

Jemma laughed at his attempt at humor. “That was the only reason?”

“I sort of hoped you picked up on the other one,” Fitz rubbed the back of his neck. “I was trying to apologize for how I was acting, what you did, I know you were trying to-I know you _weren’t_ trying to hurt me or embarrass me, it was no worse or better than what I did, I took it too personally.”

“It’s alright, it was kind of personal.”

“Well you handled it much better than I did,” Fitz insisted. “I don’t know why I was so affected.”

Jemma shifted back and forth on her feet. She already let slip exactly why she was so upset with the situation and Fitz had just glossed over that. She had hoped that he would come to the same conclusion, why else would he have been so upset. “You really don’t know?”

“No that’s not true, I’m pretty sure I do.” The corners of Jemma’s lips tilted up hopefully. She took his hands in hers, encouraging him to continue. “What I felt, what I feel was more than I ever felt for anyone and when I thought it was a sham, it hurt so much and even when I knew you felt, uh, similarly I was afraid of feeling what I felt again. I didn’t want to lose you again, if it didn’t work out, it would hurt too much.” Fitz sighed and she squeezed his fingers. “But being away from you hurt too, so I thought it would be worth it to try.”

“Oh you think so?”

He looked down at her uncertainly. “I-I do.”

“If you’re so certain, maybe we should bet on it.” The tension in Fitz’s shoulders completely washed away and he chuckled under his breath. Jemma slid her hands up his arms to cup his neck and jaw, pulling him down until he was close enough to kiss. Just before their lips met she stopped. “You know you owe me a speech right?”

“Yeah, I’ll get right on that.” He muttered as he closed the gap between them.

* * *

As Jemma finished her speech and the crowd applauded she took in the classroom. It wasn’t the grand auditorium she had imagined. But Fitz and Daisy and Bobbi they had pleaded with the school board to at least dress up the room a bit for the ceremony. When it was turned down they pulled money from their own pockets for streamers and balloons and there was no beautiful chandelier but there was fairy lights strung about giving the whole room a shimmery effect. The turnout was huge for a summer ceremony, the parents of the few other students she expected but nearly every professor she had in her run at the school was there to watch.

Once the ceremony had ended, Jemma had to fight her way through another crowd in search of Fitz. Every few moments she was stopped by a professor to congratulate her or a student to thank her for her speech. Eventually she spotted her friends standing by the make shift stage. As she approached Daisy and Bobbi and Hunter made themselves scarce.

Fitz smiled as she approached. She didn’t stop until she was close enough to plant a kiss on his lips and pull him into a firm hug. “Thank you for arranging all of this.” Jemma mumbled. “It’s really beautiful.”

“What are you talking about, I didn’t do anything.” She pulled away to look up at him with a smirk.

“Daisy and Bobbi ratted you out, said the decorations were your idea.”

Fitz looked around the classroom with a critical eye. “Well it was just so dull, I recommended painting but they wouldn’t allow it.”

“It’s perfect just the way it is.”

Fitz’s cheeks turned tinged slightly pink at the compliment. He tried to turn the attention back on her. “So what are your plans now Dr. Dr. Simmons.”

“I’m glad you asked Dr. Fitz, my parents just presented me with my graduation gift.” She had only stopped her search for him long enough to be scooped into the warm hugs her family offered. She hadn’t expected to be given a gift more than the flowers her father always bought for special events.

“Oh and what’s that?”

“Well you see psychology wasn’t the only class that I took during summer school.”

“Oh? You didn’t mention any other classes.”

“Yes! I also took a recreational water sports class and my parents decided I should put it to good use so I am going to Seychelles for a whole week.”

“Oh, well I’ll miss you while you’re gone.” He said, trying to keep the disappointment out of his tone.

“But you won’t have to because I still owe you for the spring break trip home, you are coming with me-”

“Oh! Well uh, I told you, you didn’t have to pay me back for that-“

“And I’ve got it all planned out-“

“I’d love to go with you of course-“

“Water skiing and hiking and snorkeling, oh Fitz it’ll be amazing.”

Fitz nodded. “Okay just one question?”

“What’s that?”

“Which long lost family friend’s home are we breaking into this time?”

“Urg Fitz!” Her exasperated exclamation was cut off by Fitz’s mouth crashing into her smiling lips.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how do you write endings, its so hard! and not in the emotional, oh its over sense but in the how the hell do you end a fic sense. Thankfully this is a rom com au and I can end it on a joke and a kiss right? That's not an easy out is it? Oh well. 
> 
> Thanks again everyone who has read this, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.


End file.
